Future Shock II
by MrQuinn
Summary: SEQUEL TO PARALLELS: Tommy sets out to find the Sphere of Omara, the only thing that can save Trip and Camille, but is the price of saving their lives too high? ((COMPLETE))
1. Chapter One

Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Lt. James Emery and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar: I love you more than you know.

**A/N: **Sequel to the highly successful _Parallels._ It takes place only minutes after the _Parallels_ finale.

Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.

Future Shock II 

Tommy kicked the door in, knocking it off the hinges as he stormed in, making his way over to Alex' desk. He quickly snatched the drawers out of the desk, rambling through them as he searched for it.

_'It's all my fault, and now it's up to me to make things right,'_ he told himself. _'Admiral Logan put me in command of the team, and now two of them are dead.'_

It seemed like a routine mission at the time; traveling to the past to help the Silver Guardians prevent a mutant attack. It wasn't that unusual, considering the line of work he was in. Traveling to different points in history was commonplace on the Slipstream project, so when his team found themselves in the year 2007, no one suspected a thing. The four of them did their best to prevent the attack, and were successful, but the cost was simply too high.

Trip's spinal cord had been snapped in three different places, according to Dr. Young's preliminary examination. Camille's neck was broken, no doubt from falling almost 20 feet to the concrete below. 

_'And where was I? Safe and sound in the science lab reading over reports. I should have been there, I could have helped,'_ he thought to himself.

Realizing that there was nothing in the desk, he headed over to the filing cabinet up against the wall, snatching the drawers out and going through them one by one. The top drawer was locked, but Tommy kicked the entire cabinet over, breaking the lock on the drawer. It popped open, and Tommy rambled through it…

…but it wasn't there.

"Damn it, where the hell is it?" he snapped, kicking the cabinet again out of frustration.

That's when _he_ walked into the room.

"I know what you're looking for, but you won't find it here," he said as he leaned up against the wall, folding his arms.

Tommy rushed over to him, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him up against the wall. The impact was enough to knock the deeply tinted sunglasses off his face. "Where is it Alex? Where is the sphere?" he snapped.

As soon as Lt. Emery told him that Trip and Camille were dead, his thoughts shifted to the sphere. He recalled using it to cure Adam and bring him back to the year 3000. Adam had severe radiation poisoning from using a damaged Morpher with no power coin, and the radiation surely would have killed him, but the sphere healed him. Afterwards, there were no traces of radiation in his system. _'If it worked for Adam, it'll work for Trip and Camille,'_ he convinced himself.

Alex shoved him away, straightening his uniform. "I can't tell you. You have no idea what you're dealing with," he said calmly.

Tommy grabbed him again, this time by the throat with one hand. "You have no idea what_ you're_ dealing with if you _don't_ tell me where the sphere is," he snapped.

Alex took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure. "I know how you're feeling Tommy; like this is _your _fault. I've been there, I've lost dozens of officers under my command, but it isn't our place to dictate who lives and who dies. The cost is simply too high," he explained.

"I don't care what the cost is, two of my friends are dead for no reason and I want them back!" he snapped.

"It wasn't for no reason; they died protecting the past and preserving the future. Because of their sacrifice, countless billions were saved," he brought up.

"Their deaths were senseless and could have been prevented!" He let go of Alex, turning his back to him as tears filled his eyes. "I owe it to them to do what I can to bring them back," he sighed.

Alex reached out, putting a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "I know it seems hard to believe, but everything happens for a reason. There is a balance, an order to the universe. For every life taken, another is created. Balance is the key to maintaining the universe," he said.

"For the last time Alex, tell me where the sphere is," he sighed, but still with a firm tone in his voice.

"Even if I wanted to give it to you, I couldn't," he sighed.

"Why not?"

"After we used the Sphere of Omara to revive Adam, the counsel saw fit to take it from me. They returned the sphere to their home world. Getting it now would require…" he stopped, allowing his sentence to trail off.

"Require what?" Tommy snapped, turning around.

Alex let out a sigh. "The Sphere of Omara was placed in a sacred temple on their home planet, and the only way to gain access to it is to read the summoning spell," he said.

"Fine, tell me where I get the summoning spell and I'll…" He was cut short.

"It isn't that simple. I can give you the spell, but it has to be read by someone who wasn't meant to exist," he said.

"What?"

Alex picked up his chair, setting it upright and sat down. "It's a defense mechanism. Only someone that wasn't meant to exist, someone born because of an incursion of the space/time continuum, can obtain the sphere. It took me months to find someone to acquire the sphere for him, and after the counsel took it from me, I tried to get it again. Because of the shifts in the time line, the person I had get it for me the first time no longer exists," he explained.

"So am I supposed to find someone who isn't suppose to exist?" he inquired.

"That's only the half of it. Once you _do_ find someone willing to go with you to get the sphere, acquiring the sphere upsets the balance of the universe. By using it to bring back Camille and Trip, the sphere will emit a wave of instability. There's no telling how time will be affected if you use the sphere," he warned. "I used the sphere once to save Wesley Collin's father, and the time line was drastically altered." 

"There weren't side effects to using the sphere to save Adam. I think…" He was cut short again.

"There _were_ side effects. Adam was never meant to leave his own time, and as a result, the instability altered the time line. Tanya eventually married Theodore Johnson and had children with him. That one event altered future history, which ultimately led to the mutant attack at the World Peace Summit in 2007," he said.

"You're saying because we saved Adam and brought him to the 31st century, history was changed and the mutants attacked the Summit?" he asked.

He nodded. "TJ was supposed to accept a position in the military, and was supposed to develop a method for counteracting the mutant gene and preventing it from giving them unique mutant abilities. Because he didn't…"

"One of the mutant genes he _didn't_ operate on was in one of the mutants involved in the attack at the Peace Summit, and they killed Trip and Camille," he sighed as all the pieces began to fall into place.

"About a year before that incident, TJ was supposed to give the treatment to the mutant called Magneto. It would have been a success, suppressing his mutant abilities and allowing him to live the rest of his life as an average human. Because he didn't…" 

"This is all _my_ fault," he sighed. "If I hadn't gone back and saved Adam, Trip and Camille would still be here," he said.

"Yes, but Adam would be dead. This is why we aren't meant to dictate who lives and who dies, the price is too high," Alex told him.

Tommy shook his head. "No, this is my fault and I have to make things right. If it _is_ my fault that Trip and Camille are gone, I have to be the one to bring them back. I'm going to get the sphere," he told him.

"Even if you were able to find someone to go with you, get the sphere and bring it back, you only have twelve hours. After that, the sphere won't be able to bring them back," Alex mentioned.

"So I'd better hurry," Tommy said as he wiped the tears away from his eyes, walking out of the room. 


	2. Chapter Two

Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Lt. James Emery, Carmen Oliver and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar (my editor and muse): I love you more than you know.

**A/N: **Sequel to the highly successful _Parallels._ It takes place only minutes after the _Parallels_ finale.

Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.

Future Shock II 

Jen sat in front of the control panels in the science lab, going over the readings on the screen. It was the first time she'd been in the lab since being released from the infirmary, but she wished it could have been under better circumstances.

_'I still can't believe they're gone,'_ she thought to herself, trying to control her emotions. Eventually, they got the best of her, and tears began to roll down her face. 

For as long as she could remember, Trip had been one of her closest friends. He was a valued member of their team, and always like a little brother to her. She recalled when Trip would come to her, asking for advice about his relationship with Camille. _'Oh yeah, like I was the relationship expert.'_ She chuckled inwardly. Despite how smart he was, Trip was like a child at heart, experiencing things on Earth for the first time. When he met Camille, his entire life changed; he was much more confident in his own abilities, much more secure within himself. _'The two of them deserved one another,'_ she thought to herself.

In the distance, she heard the doors to the science lab open, and someone walk into the lab. She turned around as Katie walked towards her with a bandage on her head. Jen quickly stood up, meeting Katie halfway and wrapping her arms around her.

The two of them stood there for a moment, holding one another. Finally, they backed away, each of them with tears in their eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Jen asked.

"Doc says I'll be okay in about a week. Until then, I've been relieved of duty," she said.

"Same here. I have a clean bill of health, but Dr. Young wants me to take a few weeks off before I use the Slipstream again," she said.

"So what are you doing here?"

"There's a problem with the targeting sensors and since Trip is…" she paused as she lost control of her emotions again.

"I know, Jen, I know," Katie sighed.

She wiped her eyes again, taking a deep breath. "Until the sensors are back on line, the Slipstream is off limits. I got bored sitting in my quarters so I thought I'd take a look at them,"

"Any luck?"

"I wouldn't know a targeting sensor if it walked up and bit me on the ass," Jen giggled.

Katie cracked an insincere smile. "It's going to be strange around here without them," she sighed.

"Yeah."

"Not if I can help it," a voice said. The two of them turned around as Tommy walked in the room with a look of determination in his eyes. He headed over to the control panel, pushing a button. "Computer, open an active com channel to Wesley Collins in the year 2007," he said.

_'Working,'_ the computer announced.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked.

"I need to get in touch with TJ and Tanya, and Wes is my best bet," he said.

"TJ and Tanya, why?"

"Because I need their son to come with me to the Omarian home world," he told her.

"Omara? For what?" Jen paused. "You're going to get the Sphere of Omara?" 

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" she asked.

"I'm getting our friends back. Since TJ and Tanya were never supposed to be married, that means their son wasn't supposed to exist. I'll need him to read the summoning spell and get the sphere," he said.

"You can't just go around using the sphere to…" She was cut short.

"Save me the speech, I just heard it from Alex. If you aren't going to help me, you can leave," he snapped, turning back to the computer.

"I know you're hurt, Tommy, but this…"

"Help or leave," he snapped again.

_'Unable to establish com channel,'_ the computer told him.

"Why not?"

"The targeting sensors are offline. Without them, we can't open a channel to anyone," Jen said.

"So I'll just have to go there and get him. Katie, set coordinates for the year…" He was cut short.

"Tommy, with the sensors down, we can't travel back in time either. It'll take weeks before they're back online," Katie said.

"I only have twelve hours," he screamed.

Jen walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I know it hurts, Tommy, but going to get the Sphere of Omara will only make things worse. Please, you have to believe me," she sighed.

"I have to do this Jen. I owe it to them. All of this is my fault," he said.

"This isn't your fault, you had no way of knowing this was going to happen. You can't blame yourself," Katie said.

Tommy backed away from Jen, turning back to the computer. "Computer, give me a readout of all temporal incursions over the last six months and cross reference it to our present database. I need to find any inconsistencies," he said.

_'Working,'_ the computer announced.

"What are you doing?"

"If the time line has shifted in the last six months, it may have resulted in someone being born that originally wasn't meant to be. If I can find someone, they can get the Sphere of Omara for me," he said.

"Tommy, have you been listening to anything I've said? The Sphere…" 

"Help or leave," he snapped again, never taking his eyes off the screen.

Just then, the computer screen blinked off. The lights in the science lab began to flicker, eventually going out altogether. Secondary power came on line, but at that moment, the Slipstream portal activated.

"What's going on?" Jen asked.

Tommy hurried over to the opposite control panel, going over the readings. "It looks like someone is trying to establish a link between our Slipstream and theirs," he said.

"But who?"

Before he could answer, someone stepped through the portal. Once it was closed, the lights in the lab came back on, allowing them to get a good look at who had come through. 

It was a woman, who looked to be in her early teens. She had long, honey-brown hair and a monotone look on her face. The uniform she was wearing was obviously from Time Force, but much different from the uniform Jen and the others were used to. It was black with white trim, and a pink shirt underneath. To top it off, she wore a pair of pink tinted glasses.

It was Tommy who reached for his disrupter, but didn't take it out of the holster as he approached her. "Who are you?" he asked.

The woman removed her glasses, tucking them nicely into the collar of her shirt. "Lt. Commander Carmen Oliver," she said calmly.

"What?"

"I'm from what you would consider the future. I'm here to help you," she said.

Jen took a step forward, getting a good look at her. "Oh my God, it can't be," she sighed, reaching out and touching Carmen's face lightly.

"Yes, Mother, it's me," she sighed.

Tommy looked at Jen, then back at Carmen, amazed that he didn't notice the resemblance sooner. "Oh my God, you're…"

"Your daughter, from the future," she said.

"But how?" Katie asked.

"If you allow me, I can explain everything," she said.

"Please do."

She cleared her throat. "I am from the year 3025. In my time, Time Force is in ruins, and according to my readings, it all started from this exact moment." 

"What happened?"

"As far as I can tell, two of your officers died in the past defending the Peace Summit; Trip and Lt. Camille Summers. Because of their deaths, the time line is altered and future history is changed. I'm here to ensure that it doesn't happen," she said.

"What happened in the future?"

"You know I can't tell you, but what I _will_ say is that anything is better than the world I live in. That's why I'm here," she said.

"How can you help?" Katie asked.

"Because my father wasn't meant to be in this point in time, and my mother was meant to die in the past, my birth is a temporal infraction. In essence, I'm not…"

"… you're not supposed to exist," Tommy sighed.

"Exactly. My theory is that if I assist you in saving Lt. Summers, my time line will return to its normal state," she said.

"What was Camille supposed to do that was so important to the future?" Jen asked.

"You know I can't tell you," she repeated.

"I suppose not,"

"It will take us almost 40 minutes by shuttle to get to the Omarian homeworld, we should get going if we're going to save your friends," Carmen told them.

Tommy nodded. "Jen, you stay here and try to get the sensors back online, we may need them. Katie, contact Adam and have him meet Carmen and me in shuttle bay four, something tells me we're going to need him." 

"Yes sir."

"Come on, Carmen, we have a future to save," Tommy said.__


	3. Chapter Three

Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Chryo Tech, Lt. James Emery and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar: I love you more than you know.

**A/N: **Sequel to the highly successful _Parallels._ It takes place only minutes after the _Parallels_ finale.

Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.

Future Shock II 

Adam walked into the shuttle bay already in his ranger uniform, but with his helmet under his arm. He made his way over to Tommy, standing at attention.

"You wanted to see me, Commander?" he inquired.

"Yeah, the three of us are going on a trip," he said.

"The _three_ of us?"

Just then, Carmen stepped off the shuttlecraft, getting a good look at Adam. "Ah, the prototype for the black ranger battle armor. I see you're putting it to good use," she said, admiring the uniform.

Adam glanced at her, then back at Tommy. "Who is this?" he asked.

"Adam, this is Lt. Commander Carmen Oliver…" he paused. "My daughter," he sighed.

"But how?"

"I'm from what you would consider the future." She took a step closer. "Admiral Summers and I worked for weeks to perfect the design for this uniform. Our intent was to establish armor like this for all the Chrono morphers, but the morphers themselves couldn't regulate the power inputs correctly. We had to manually reconfigure all the…"

"That's fascinating, but we need to get going," Tommy said, cutting her short as he walked up the ramp, getting in the shuttle.

"Where are we going?" Adam asked.

"The Omarian home world to get the Sphere of Omara," she said as the two of them made their way into the shuttlecraft as well.

"Isn't that the ball of light Tommy used to bring me back?" he inquired.

"One and the same."

"Closing bay doors, engaging engines," Tommy said, taking a seat at the controls and strapping himself in.

Adam hurried to the opposite control panel. "Engines engaged," he confirmed.

"Set a course for the Omarian home world," he said.

This time it was Carmen who answered. "Course plotted," she told him as she sat down, strapping herself into her chair.

The shuttle lifted off the ground, and the main bay doors opened, allowing them to exit. "Engage the hyper drive," he said.

"Hyper drive on line," Adam said. 

Suddenly, there was a jerk as the shuttle shifted into hyper drive.

"According to these readings, if we stay on our current course at this speed, we should reach our destination in about thirty-seven minutes," Adam mentioned, then turned to Tommy. "You're going to get the sphere to save Trip and Camille, aren't you?"

"Spare me the lecture Adam, we're going to do this," he snapped.

"What? You thought I was going to try to talk you out of it? I'm with you on this one." 

"Thanks man."

"So what's the deal with _her_?" he asked.

"We need her to get the sphere, it's a security precaution the Omaraians put on the sphere to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands," Carmen told him.

"Works for me."

Tommy turned to his daughter. Part of him wanted to reach out to her, get to know her. He regretted not being to spend time with Trinity, and he didn't want to make the same mistake with Carmen. "So…" he paused. "Jen and I ended up together, huh?" he inquired, trying to spark up a conversation.

"You know I can't tell you about the future," she sighed.

"If saving Trip and Camille will alter the time line, there's no hurt in telling me how things _used_ to be for you," he mentioned.

"I suppose not." She took a deep breath. "Twenty years ago, which is five years from now in _your_ time, Chryo Tech released a Harvenger on the city," she said.

"Harvengers? I've heard that name before, but I don't know much about them," he said.

"They're a cannibalistic savage race comprised of different beings from all over the universe," she said.

"So it's an alliance of some kind? A group of beings working together for a common purpose," Adam suggested.

She shook her head. "No, when I say comprised of different beings from all over the universe, I mean it. Literally." She paused. "The Harvengers kill their victims to feed, then use the remaining body parts to create more of their kind," she said.

"You mean like _actual_ parts?"

"Yes. The body of a human, the leg of a Vorhsoth, the arm of a demon. Each Harvenger is different, each with its own unique body chemistry. Though there is still no medical or scientific explanation for it, the Harvengers, something in the Harvenger's blood has a mutating regenerating effect. After feeding, the Harvengers gather up the remains and create a humanoid body, then use their own blood to give it life. They exist only to feed, and to multiply," she said.

"How did Chryo-Tech get their hands on one of these things?" Tommy asked.

"No one knows for sure. The existence of the Harvenger race pre-dates any written history log that Time Force has. Rumor is that the Harvengers were responsible for Lord Zedd's _condition._ There are no confirmed reports, but some say they skinned him alive almost twelve thousand years ago," she said.

"That explains the no skin look he was going for," Adam said.

"If they knew what these things were capable of, why even try to contain one?" he asked.

"Their plan was to determine what was in the Harvenger's blood that caused the regeneration process. If they'd succeeded, it would have saved billions of lives. No more disease, ever," she said.

"But Time Force already achieved that. Genetic defects are removed from children before birth, so that prevents diseases," Tommy brought up.

"Yes, but this is different. If the source of the regeneration can be found, it would slow down the aging process in humans a million fold. For every ten thousand years, you would only age one," she said.

"They wanted to live forever," Adam sighed.

"Trust me, that's not all it's cracked up to be," Tommy mentioned, sighing inwardly as he remembered what happened to William.

"Okay, we got it; Harvengers are evil, Chryo-Tech's plans for immortality go down the drain. So how did you stop them?"

"Stop? There is no way to stop the Harvengers. Each time they create a new Harvenger, it acquires that being's strengths, but none of its weaknesses. Because of its ability to regenerate, it continues to heal itself, and continues to create more of its kind. The only up-side is that they're not too bright. They were easy to capture, but containing them became a problem. Admiral Summers and I constructed a containment module for them, but they set us up. We'd captured over a dozen of them, but they broke free and killed every Time Force officer they got their hands on. My group and I were the only ones left, but they began to pick us off one by one. Eventually, I realized that the only way to stop them was to travel to the past and prevent them from coming to Earth in the first place," she explained.

"What makes you think saving Trip and Camille will stop the Harvengers from coming here?"

"It won't. In the previous time line, they came as well. We all did our best, but eventually the Harvengers were too much for us. I've given you knowledge of what is to come, with the hopes that you can prevent it from happening altogether. Admiral Summers and I found a way to contain the Harvengers, but by the time we did, there were too many of them," she told them.

"So you want us to save Camille and Trip so they can build the containment module early, then we stop the Harvengers from multiplying?" Adam asked.

"Right. At this point in time, they will be much easier to control,"

"If the time line changed, why do you remember the previous time line?" Tommy asked.

"The energy signature in the Chrono morphers shielded me from the changes in the time line," she held up his wrist, revealing the pink Chrono Morpher. "The other rangers were shielded from the shifts, but none of them survived," she sighed.

"Where were Jen and I? Why didn't we try to help you?" Tommy asked. Before she could answer, the look on her face was explanation enough. "We were killed, weren't we? Jen and I were killed by the Harvengers," he groaned.

"Worse, you _became _Harvengers. After we get the Sphere of Omara, save your friends and put history back on track, none of that will ever happen. None of it will matter," she said.

"And what if we can't put it back on track?"

"Then the world as you know it will come to an end," Carmen sighed.

*

"Look at this," Jen said, directing his attention to a series of wires underneath the control panel.

Lucas stared at them. "What?"

"I'm not the foremost expert on this, but it doesn't take a genius to know that someone sabotaged the Slipstream," she said. "Look at these wires, they've been cut. The malfunction in the targeting censors wasn't a malfunction at all, someone _wanted_ Trip, Camille and the others to get lost somewhere in time," she explained.

"But who? Who would have access to the science lab and would know enough about the Slipstream to know which wires to cut?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." The two of them slid from under the panel, making it back to their feet. "Computer, give me surveillance records on the science lab within the last week," she said.

_'Working,'_ the computer answered.

"What are you doing?"

"The computer keeps an active log of everyone who comes into the lab. The door is voice activated, and only authorized personnel have access to the lab. If I can narrow down who was in here over the past week, we should find out who sabotaged the Slipstream," she explained.

The doors to the science lab opened, and _he _walked in. 

Jen was the first one to notice him. She and Lucas quickly stood up straight and saluted him. "Admiral Logan," she said.

"At ease," he paused. "Lt. Kendal, you're dismissed. I need to talk to the Captain," he said.

"Yes sir." Lucas turned to Jen. "Keep me updated," he said.

"I will."

He nodded at the admiral one final time, then made his way out of the lab.

"I just talked to Alex. He told me that Tommy took a shuttle to Omara to get the sphere. Is this true?" Admiral Logan asked.

"Yes sir."

"How could you allow this to happen? You know what kind of damage that sphere can do, that's why we shipped it off to another planet. We had to be sure that something with that much power never fell into the wrong hands," he said.

"Permission to speak freely…" She was cut short.

"Denied. You don't understand the seriousness of the situation, do you, Captain? Using the sphere has consequences, consequences that you can't begin to comprehend," he snapped.

"I am aware of that sir."

"Are you really? When Alex used it to save Wesley's father in the 21st century, it led to the time line being altered. Wes never took over his father's business, and was forced to fight along with the rest of you. Frax built the Doomtron, and the combined energies from the Trixyruim crystal were enough to open the vortexes in the sky. Those vortexes weakened the Ozone layer, adding to pollution on the planet, which led to the Orgs being resurrected on Earth. The Wild Force rangers were called upon, and an entirely different time line came into existence because Alex decided to take destiny into his own hands," he explained.

"I had no idea sir. If I'd known…"

"Of course you didn't know. Alex's decision to have Tommy heal Adam and bring him to the present led to the mutant attack in the past, which is why Camille and Trip were killed. Now Tommy is planning to use the sphere and revive them, but he has no idea what the consequences will be if he does," he told her.

"With all due respect sir, I…"

"Save it, Captain. Tommy may have good intentions, but this will be the death of us all," he said.

"What can I do?"

"There isn't anything you _can_ do, it's out of your hands. When Commander Oliver returns, if I can't convince him not to use the sphere, he'll have to be eliminated," he said.

"You'd kill him?"

"To ensure the safety of the entire universe; yes, I would," Admiral Logan sighed. __


	4. Chapter Four

"They're everything, there's nothing else we can do," Charles said as he stumbled into the science lab, holding his ribs in pain. His clothes were ripped horribly, and his face was covered in blood.

_Carmen hurried over to him, helping him over to the control panel and sitting him down in the chair. "What happened to you?"_

_"A group of Harvengers breached our outer defenses, they came from out of nowhere. They got Anthony and Captain Emery," he told her._

_"Where is Leo?"_

_"I don't know. He said something about going for the Omega Project, but I don't know if he made it,"_

_"We need to get you down to the infirmary, Dr. Young may be able to…" she was cut short._

_"No, I'll be fine. Besides, you're going to need all the help you can get. We're the only rangers left," he sighed, coughing up blood as he tried to stand up._

_Before she could respond, the doors on the science lab exploded, and a group of Harvengers stormed in. Carmen picked up a pipe, swinging and hitting one of the Harvengers in the side of the head. It was enough to bring it to its knees, and a sweep took another down. A Harvenger grabbed her from behind, but she ducked, and Charles fired his disrupter, catching the Harvenger in the chest. That was enough to knock it up against the wall, but the wound seemed to heal itself as it stood up._

_"PINK RANGER CHRONO ARMOR," Carmen called out, replacing his clothes with her ranger uniform. She called for her Chrono saber, swinging and slicing one of the Harvenger's arms off. She spun around, stabbing another Harvenger in the stomach, then snatched the saber up, slicing the Harvenger in half. With the last of them down, she turned to Charles._

_"We have to…" she paused as a Harvenger bit Charles in the back of the neck. Without a word, she swung her chrono saber, cutting off the Harvenger's head. Charles' body fell to the ground, and she leaned over him. "We're going to get you to the infirmary," she sighed._

_He shook his head. "No…its too late for me…" he began to cough up blood again. "I've been infected. You have to kill me," he groaned._

_She dropped her saber. "No, I can't," she screamed._

_"You have to. I can feel that thing's blood inside me, changing me. You have to kill me before I change," he told her._

_"I can't do it Charles, I just can't," she cried._

_With the last of his strength, he picked up her chrono saber, putting the tip of the sword into his throat. "You do it, or I will," he said._

_Carmen turned her back and covered her eyes, but could still hear the sound of the sword piercing his skin, and his lifeless body falling to ground…_

Carmen opened her eyes, finding herself sitting in the back of the shuttlecraft in a cold sweat. She wiped the sweat away from her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. It was that moment; Charles' death convinced her that going back in time to prevent the Harvengers from coming was the only way to save him.

"You okay?" Tommy asked as he walked to the back of the ship, sitting down next to her.

She nodded. "I'm fine, just a bad dream," she sighed.

"According the sensors, we'll be at the Omaraian home world in about fifteen minutes," he mentioned.

"Good. Lets just get this done,"

"So what happened? That was a pretty intense dream you were having," he brought up.

"Harvengers broke into the science lab, killed my friends, killed the other rangers, killed my commanding officer. This has to work, we have to save them," Carmen said.

"We will,"

"Mom hasn't told you yet, but she's pregnant. She has been for a while. She wanted to tell you, but because she was cryogenically frozen, she was concerned about it. She didn't want to tell you until she was sure I'd be okay," she told him.

"I can understand that. How far along is she?"

"At this point, she should be about two months pregnant. When she _does_ tell you, the two of you got married rather quickly. She got promoted to Admiral after Logan was killed, and you took control of the slipstream full time," she said.

"By telling me this, aren't you running the risk of changing things?" he asked.

"I'm telling you with the hope that you ensure it happens as it's suppose to. You can't tell mom you know, just let things progress normally," she said.

"I will," he paused. "You know I have another daughter, Trinity," he brought up.

She nodded. "Yes, your first daughter with Kimberly Hart in the past. You use to tell me how much it hurt you not to be a part of her life the way you wanted to," she said.

"I hope I didn't make the same mistake with you,"

"You didn't. You were always a good father. You were busy with work sometimes, but you always made time for me. I think that…" she was cut short.

"Guys, we have a problem," Adam called out.

Tommy and Carmen hurried into the cockpit, taking their seats in front of the controls. "What's going on?" Tommy asked.

"I just got an incoming transmission from the Omaraian home world. Admiral Logan told them we were coming and they were told to stop us by any means necessary. They've locked all weapons systems on us," he said.

"Stop us? Why?"

"Logan doesn't want us to get the sphere," Carmen said.

"Open a transmission to the Omaraians," he said.

"Opened," Adam said.

"Omaraians, I am Commander Tommy Oliver from Time Force, please deactivate all weapons systems," he said.

'Denied Commander. We have orders from your superiors to prevent your landing at any costs. If you remain at your present source and speed, we will open fire in 30 seconds,' a voice said.

It was Carmen who shut down the transmission, then turned to Tommy. "These guys mean business, and even at this point in time, they're systems are enough to completely destroy the shuttle with the first round of fire," she said.

"I'm not leaving without that sphere," Tommy told her.

"And I plan to make sure that you get it," she stood up, walking over to Adam. "Excuse me," she said.

Adam quickly stood up, allowing her to take his seat. "What's your plan?" he asked.

Carmen took off her Morpher, opening a small panel in the back. Next, she snatched a panel off the side of the shuttle, reaching in and pulling out a series of wires. "The Omaraians won't stop until we're destroyed, so we're going to give them what they want," she said.

~~

"Sir, the Time Force shuttle is increasing speed,"

The Omaraian commander walked over to the control panel, watching the shuttle on the screen in front of him. "Can you open a transmission to them?" he asked.

"No sir, transmissions have been cut off from within the shuttle,"

"Arm the phaser banks, adjust targeting for their new course and speed, then open fire," he said.

"But sir, they're from Time Force. They…"

"I am aware of who they are, but our orders are clear. Admiral Logan informed us that the people on that shuttle pose a threat this not only our world, but the entire space/time continuum. They have to be stopped here and now," he said. "Now, open fire,"

Without another word, they opened fire. The two of them watched on the screen as the phaser banks fired… and there was an explosion.

"The shuttle has been destroyed,"

"Very good. Contact Admiral Logan and inform him that the situation has been taken care of," he said.

"Right away sir,"

*

"Computer, compile a list of temporal incursions within the last 8 months," Alex said he sat down behind his desk, removing his sunglasses and tossing them on the desk.

_'Working,'_ the computer announced.

It amazed him that he hadn't thought of it sooner. He recalled when Admiral Logan originally told him about the Sphere of Omara, about the power it had to revive the dead. Logan told him that by using the sphere, they ran the risk of altering the time line, and in every instance that he was aware of, the time line _had_ been changed. _'He had to know that bringing Adam back would change the time line, so why did he authorize it?'_ he asked himself. At the time, he didn't think anything of it. He simply followed his orders.

His thoughts were interrupted as the computer pulled up the information he was looking for. Alex leaned forward, going through the information.

"Computer, in the four incidents listed, how many of them were ordered by Admiral Logan?" he inquired.

_'All temporal incursions were authorized and verified by Admiral Logan,'_ the computer answered.

"But that isn't right, why did the counsel allow him to authorize them?" he asked.

'Insufficient information,' 

"The Admiral should have had the counsel approve these incursions before he gave us authorization to use the sphere," he said. "Computer, how many of these incursions were authorized before the counsel was killed?"

'Three,' 

He read over the material. "It says here that Admiral Logan was aware of the consequences of reviving Adam in the 21st century, and even though it went against the orders of the counsel, he approved it," he continued to read. "Isn't it funny that a few days later, the counsel was killed?"

'Please re-state the question,' 

He paused. "Computer, what is the fifth file?" he asked.

_'Classified,'_ the computer shot back.

"Over ride security lock out authorization Collins, Beta 64," he said.

'Security lock disabled,' 

Alex glanced through the material, and the more he read, the wider his eyes got. "Oh my God," he sighed. "Computer, what is Admiral Logan's location?"

'Admiral Logan in the main science lab,' 

Without a word, Alex stood up, rushing out his office.

*

"You did _what_?" Jen snapped, standing eye to eye with Admiral Logan.

"I did what needed to be done. Tommy and Adam were ordered to stand down and return to Earth, but they refused. The Omaraians were authorized to do whatever necessary to ensure they shuttle didn't land," he told her.

"Even kill them?"

"Yes, even kill them. It had to be done, to ensure that future history wasn't altered," he said.

"What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? That uniform? Your rank? With all due respect sir, that's bullsh…" she was cut short.

"What gives Tommy the right to decide who lives and who dies? What I've done is no different than what Tommy is trying to do right now," he brought up.

"So to prevent Tommy from changing the future, _you_ changed the future and had him killed? Your logic is flawed Admiral, and I intent to take this all the way to…" she was interrupted again.

"To who? The counsel? I _am_ the counsel Captain, and if you're unhappy with my decisions as Admiral, you're…" this time, she interrupted him.

"What? I'm fired? You can't fire me Admiral, because I…" she was interrupted this time Alex, who walked into the lab, grabbing her wrist before she could remove her badge.

"Think about this Jennifer, think about what this means. Walking away from Time Force won't do you any good," he sighed.

She snatched away from him. "If this is what Time Force stands for – killing people and justifying it by hiding behind rules and regulations – I don't want any part of it," she said, snatching off her badge and throwing it to the ground. "I quit," she said, walking out the room.


	5. Chapter Five

Jen stormed into her quarters, collapsing to the floor as her emotions got the best of her. 

_'First Trip and Camille, now Tommy,'_ she sighed inwardly as tears rolled down her face. Within the last 24 hours, almost everyone who meant anything to her had been taken away from her, and it was more than she was prepared to deal with.

She leaned up against the wall, putting her hand gently on her stomach. _'I never got to tell him about the baby,'_ she sighed, wishing she'd had the chance. A child was the last thing either one of them were expecting, but she was determined to make things work.

But now, Tommy was gone…

At that moment, her sorrow turned to rage as she stood up, picking up a lamp and throwing it against the wall. The lamp shattered, and before all the pieces could hit the ground, she picked up a chair, slamming it down into the glass table next to the couch.

"They're gone. They're all gone!!!" she screamed, swinging the chair again, this time sending in through a window.

She picked up another chair, but this time, someone grabbed it from behind. Jen turned around in a fit of rage, only to see _him_ standing there.

"Jen, I just heard what happened," Lt. Emery sighed. "But destroying your quarters won't make you feel any better,"

She tried to swing at Lucas, but he grabbed her, pulling her close to him. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her. "I know what you're going through Jen, and I'm here," he said.

Finally, Jen let go of her anger and melted into his arms as tears rolled down her face. "I can't believe he's gone James. What am I suppose to do without him?" she cried.

"I don't know Jen, I don't know," he sighed.

*

Katie and Lucas walked into the science lab, where the Admiral was waiting for them. 

"Reporting as ordered sir," Lucas said as he and Katie stood at attention in front of him.

"At ease. I'll get right to the point, there is a traitor among us. Someone is deliberately trying to undermine the Slipstream project, and I have a good idea who it is," he said.

"Who sir?"

"Commander Collins. He has his own agenda, and is involved in a conspiracy to destroy Time Force," he told them.

"With all due respect sir, I've known Alex for a long time. He may be a little uptight, but he isn't a traitor," Lucas said.

"There was a time when I believed that as well, but the evidence of overwhelming against him. I received word fror the Omaraian home world that Commander Collins gave the order to have Tommy's shuttle destroyed before it was allowed to land on Omara," he said.

"What?"

"Were there any survivors?" Katie asked.

The admiral shook his head. "The Omaraians are scanning the debris, but no life signs have been found as of yet. They doubt anyone could have survived it,"

"Why would Alex do that?"

"I don't know, but until the matter is resolved and Alex is in custody, no one is safe. I'm counting on the two of you to do whatever is necessary to secure Alex and prevent him from doing any more damage to the time line," he said.

"Understood sir,"

It was at that moment that Alex walked into the science lab with a disrupter in hand, aiming it at the Admiral. "Lucas, Katie, back away from him now," he said calmly, never taking his eyes off the Admiral.

"What do you think you're doing Commander?" the Admiral snapped.

"Your time is up Logan," he said, pulling the trigger.

Katie dived towards the Admiral, knocking him out the way, but the disrupter caught her in the leg as Lucas grabbed Alex, putting his hands behind his back.

"Your under arrest for the attempted murder of Admiral Logan," he told him.

"Lucas, you don't understand what's going on,"

"Save your lies Commander. As of this moment you are relieved of your duties, you're fired. Lucas, take him to the holding cell and lock him up. If he tries to escape, kill him," he said.

"Sir?" Lucas inquired.

"You heard me! He just tried to kill me _and_ he shot Katie. He is considered dangerous and a threat to national security. If he tries to escape, kill him," he repeated.

"Yes sir," he sighed, dragging Alex out the room.

~~

Lucas walked silently as he aimed a disrupter at Alex, forcing him to move forward. 

"You don't know what you're doing Lucas," Alex said.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear your lies," he said, jabbing the barrel of the disrupter in Alex's back. It was enough to make him stumble forward, almost tripping into the elevator. "Deck 6, containment," he said as the doors closed. Seconds later, the elevator began to move.

"Lucas, listen to me: After my conversation with Tommy, I did a little investigating of my own. Seems that the time stream was being affected one event at a time, someone was purposely altering history to serve their own needs. It was Admiral Logan who ordered that the Sphere of Omara be used to bring Adam back. He knew there would be risks, but he gave the order anyway. He knew that ordering me to save Mr. Collins would have consequences, but I was so distracted by my own emotions that I didn't question him. Those two events were enough to lead to the eventual mutant attack that Camille and the others tried to prevent. He _knew_ what would happen and orchestrated all three events," he explained.

"I know," he sighed.

"Come on Lucas, you have to…" he paused. "What did you say?"

"I knew all along, but I'm sure he'll be monitoring the security cameras in the hall so I had to let him think I was following his orders," he said, pointing the disrupter away from him.

"Good thinking,"

"Jen and I were in the science lab when she pulled of surveillance footage. Admiral Logan tried to sabotage the slipstream by disabling the targeting sensors. We had no idea what he was up to, but we knew it was no good," Lucas said.

"Part of his plan was to eliminate Trip and Camille. He wanted them out the way, and he knew that doing it any other way would arouse suspicions,"

"Why would he want Trip and Camille killed?"

"Because they're the only two people in Time Force who would be able to come up with a containment unit that would hold the Harvengers. I can't pinpoint the actual date, but some time during the Vorhsoth invasion with Lord Zedd, Admiral Logan was replaced by a double. It was _that_ Admiral Logan that killed the counsel," he told him.

"He killed them so as that as the highest ranked officer, he could appoint himself as a new counsel member, and there would be no one to oppose him. But what was he after?"

"I believe that Chryo-Tech sent him here with instructions to take over Time Force and alter the time line so that the Harvengers would be allowed to multiply. They hoped that they'd be able to contain them and eventually come up with an anti-toxin for the Harvengers,"

"Who are the Harvengers?"

"A savage race. They kill their prey, and then use their parts to build more Harvengers. There's something in their blood that allows them to regenerate, and Chryo Tech hoped to use that to their advantage,"

"Have the Harvengers kill everyone in their way, then Chryo Tech would use the anti-toxin to cure the Harvengers and they'd not only control the world, but would live forever," Lucas said.

He nodded. "And with Trip and Camille out the way, there is no one here to come up with anything to stop the Harvengers,"

"So where is the _real_ Admiral Logan?"

"I don't know. For now, we need to ensure that Tommy does the sphere so he can revive Camille and Trip. That way, we'll have a fighting chance if the Harvengers do come here,"

He paused. "We just received word from the Omaraian home world, the shuttle that Tommy and Adam were in has been destroyed," he sighed.

"What?"

"Admiral Logan told us you ordered it shot out of orbit,"

"It wasn't me, it was him. I want you to work on the targeting sensors and try to get them back on line. Contact Nadira, we'll need her help too. Make sure the slipstream itself stays off line, I don't want any of those Harvenger things coming through to our reality," he explained.

"I got it,"

"If Tommy and Adam really were killed in that shuttle, we'll have to find a way to contend with the Harvengers without Trip and Camille until I can get the sphere,"

"You're going after the sphere?"

Alex smiled.

*

"I'm not leaving without that sphere," Tommy told her.

"And I plan to make sure that you get it," she stood up, walking over to Adam. "Excuse me," she said.

Adam quickly stood up, allowing her to take his seat. "What's your plan?" he asked.

Carmen took off her Morpher, opening a small panel in the back. Next, she snatched a panel off the side of the shuttle, reaching in and pulling out a series of wires. "The Omaraians won't stop until we're destroyed, so we're going to give them what they want," she said.

"Sounds like you have an idea," Tommy said.

"How many fuel cells does this shuttle have in reserve?" she asked.

"Three, maybe four,"

"Adam, prepare to eject two of the fuel cells on my mark," she said.

Adam gave a quick glance at Tommy, who nodded. Adam sat down in front of the opposite control panel. "Ready to eject the fuel cells," he said.

"The Omaraians have locked their weapons on us," Tommy told them.

"Good, I'm almost done here," just then, the lighting in the entire ship went out. "I've diverted all available power from the ship's core to my Morpher and intergraded the Morpher into the ships defense system,"

"What will that do?"

"It'll cloak the ship," Adam said.

"The Omaraians have opened fire. Impact in three seconds,"

"Eject the cells," Carmen ordered.

Adam ejected the cells, and at that moment, the lighting in the ship turned blue. Seconds later, there was an explosion outside the ship.

"The cells have been destroyed," Tommy reported.

"Good, at least now the Omaraians are off our backs," she turned to Adam. "Have you been able to find out where the sphere is?" she asked.

"According to sensors, the sphere is being held in a huge structure in the upper peninsula. We should be able to land a few hundred feet away and not be detected," he said.

"Great. Any defenses in this structure we should know about?"

"Nothing our sensors can detect,"

"We'll just land the ship, but the second I take my Morpher out the ship, it'll decloak and they'll be able to detect us. It didn't take them long to lock onto us the first time, so we'll only have a few minutes to get in there, get the sphere and get out before they come for us," she explained.

"We should be able to teleport off the ship, that way we can keep it cloaked, but someone will have to stay on board to teleport us back. Adam, that's your job," Tommy said.

"Not a problem,"

"I'll only be able to maintain the cloak on the ship for about 30 minutes. After that, I'll have to tap into the ship's internal power. If I do, we won't have enough power to sustain the trip back to Earth. Not to mention without all our fuel cells, we won't be able to engage the hyper drive. We'll be defenseless," Carmen explained.

"So we'll have to hurry," he turned to Adam. "If we're not back in twenty five minutes, go on without us," he said.

"Sir?"

"You heard me. If we're not back in twenty-five minutes, there's no reason for you to be killed coming in after us. I'm giving you a direct order to take the ship and return home," he told him.

"Yes sir,"

"Alright Carmen, lets go,"


	6. Chapter Six

"Prepare to reroute secondary power from the plasma manifolds to the targeting sensors," Lucas said as he laid on his back, reconnecting wires underneath the control panel.

"Wait? Reroute what to where?" Nadira inquired, staring at the control panel with a look of confusion on her face.

"The plasma manifolds," he repeated.

"Which button is that?"

Lucas sighed with frustration as he slid from under the panel, looking over the controls himself. "You never did the required reading, did you?"

"Of course I did, but I wouldn't know a manifold from a womanifold. All these buttons look the same to me," she admitted.

"I swear if you weren't so beautiful, I'd…" he paused, letting his sentence trail off.

"You'd what?"

He leaned in closer to know, kissing her gently on the lips. "Nothing babe, I just want to get the targeting sensors back on line before…"

"Before _I_ find out what you're doing?" they heard a voice say.

The two of them turned around as Admiral Logan walked into the room. Instead of his uniform, he wore a pair of brown pants with a matching shirt. Lucas immediately recognized the uniform.

"Chryo Tech," he mumbled.

"I ordered you to take Alex to containment, but instead, he hijacked one of the zords and set a course for Omara. By the authority invested in my by the Time Force, I'm placing you under arrest for disregarding a direct order from a superior officer and conspiracy against Time Force itself," he said firmly.

Lucas looked at Nadira, then back at Logan. "Whatever," he mumbled, going back to his work.

"Nadira, unless you want to be locked up with him, take Lt. Kendal into custody and escort him to the containment area," the Admiral said.

"I have a better idea. How about _you_ go down to the containment lab before I blast a hole in your skull?" he heard a voice say. Before he could turn around, he felt the barrel of a disrupter pressed in the back of his head.

"Kathryn, you're throwing your entire career away if…"

"Oh shut up!" she said, hitting him in the back of the head with the handle of the disrupter, taking him down. "Guards, take him to the containment room and keep him under surveillance. If he tries anything funny, open fire,"

"Right away Lt." the guards said, picking him up and taking him away.

"Good timing Katie," Lucas said.

"You know how I am, I love to make a grand entrance," she walked over to the controls. "Computer, erect a level 7 force field around the science lab and all surrounding entrances to this room, authorization Katie Gamma 64,"

_'Force field active,'_ the computer announced.

"Accept commands regarding force field and all systems within this room from this location _only_," she said.

'Command verified,' 

"Good, now we don't have to worry about Logan getting in here again," she turned to Lucas. "Did you get the targeting sensors back on line?"

"Just about, I have some more work to do, but I'm close,"

"Get on it, we may need them,"

"How did you know Logan was a fake?" Nadira asked.

"Call it intuition, but I could _feel_ something wrong with him. I knew from the moment I saw him that he wasn't human," she said.

"So why take a disrupter shot for him?"

"I wanted to be sure. We're on our own now. Trip and Camille are gone, Alex and Emery are on a wild goose chase, Tommy and Adam are presumed dead, and Jen is fired. We're all we have left," she said.

Nadira raised her hand. "Since Logan fired her and he wasn't the _real_ Logan, wouldn't that mean Jen still works here?"

"She's got a point," he added.

"If Alex's reports are right, that means the Harvengers are on they're way here, and we're going to…" she paused. "Oh God," she sighed.

"What?"

"If Logan isn't the only person that isn't himself, they'll no doubt go after Trip and Camille's bodies in the main infirmary," she said.

"Someone should go down there and protect them just in case,"

Lucas pulled up information on the computer. "The only non essential personnel on that deck is Ensign Claw. We should contact him and tell him to keep an eye on their bodies," he said.

"He doesn't _really_ have a claw, does he?" Nadira asked. "My daddy use to know a guy named Claw and he had the weirdest…" 

"I'm sure he doesn't has claws," 

"But he _is_ kinda…"she paused. "Weird. He keeps to himself, hardly ever talks to anyone. I'm tellin' ya, the guy creeps me out," Katie said.

"Right now he's all we have. Do we still have internal communications?"

"Yes,"

"Tell him what's going on and not to take Trip and Camille out of his sight. Lucas, keep working on the targeting sensors. I'm going to go through the service crawl ways and track down Jen. She's all alone out there and has no idea what's going on," Katie said.

"Sounds like a plan,"

"Computer remove force field from service crawl way J sub junction 8 for 10 seconds, then re-establish," she said. 

_'Force field disabled. Re-establishing in 10 seconds,'_ the computer announced.

"Good luck guys, keep me posted," Katie said as she hurried over to the crawl way, pulling the panel off the wall and climbing inside. As soon as she was inside, the force field came back on.

*

The three security guards escorted Admiral Logan to the holding cell, deactivating the force field and shoving him inside. He tried to make a move, but was stopped by the force field as they reactivated it.

"You don't really think this can contain me, do you?" the admiral snapped as his eyes began to glow.

The guards reached for their weapons. "Stay where you are admiral," one of them said.

Just then, the admiral cocked back, punching a hole through solid steel, deactivating the force field again. As he snatched his arm back, his entire arm was pulled off, leaving it stuck in the wall. A greenish fluid gushed out the Admiral's open wound as he swung with his left hand, punching a hole through one of the guard's chests. The other two opened fire, but they didn't faze him at all. After knocking the first guard to the ground, he reached over, snatching off another guard's arm. The guard passed out, and Admiral Logan seemed to put the guard's arm on himself. The last guard simply passed out as the nerve endings from the severed arm seemed to attach itself to the admiral. Finally, when it was done, Logan admired his new arm.

"Not bad at all," he said as he pulled his original arm out the wall, attaching it to the fallen security guard. Within seconds, not only did the arm connect itself to the guard, the open wound in his chest healed itself and he was back on his feet. 

"I can feel the blood rushing through me," the guard said, but his voice was much deeper.

The admiral nodded as he walked over to the two unconscious guards, purposely cutting his wrist and allowing the blood to drip into their mouths. Moments later, they sat up, each of them were their eyes glowing an eerie shade of green. "Come my brothers, we have work to do," he groaned as the four of them walked out the room.__

*

_'Lt. Kendal to Ensign Claw. Respond,'_ a voice said.

Ensign Claw rushed over to a communications panel at the far end of the deck, switching it on. "Ensign Claw here sir,"

'I need you to go to the main infirmary and watch over Trip and Camille's bodies. Under no circumstances should you let anyone near them, not even me. This is a matter of internal security. Do you understand?'

"Yes sir. Perfectly sir," he said.

Without another word, he ran down to the hall to the infirmary, where Camille and Trip's body were being kept. Each of them was laying on examining tables with sheets over them. _'This is weird,'_ he thought to himself. _'Why am I guarding dead people? What, does someone want to kill them some more?'_

Nonetheless, he stood at attention, watching the door to the infirmary. Whatever was going on, he wasn't in a position to question anything. He was fresh out the academy, barely graduating with his degree in biomechanical studies. His professors always found his theories inventive, but impractical.

_'One of these days I'll show them,'_ he thought.

His thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the infirmary opened and _he_ walked in.

"Admiral," he said firmly, standing at attention.

"Hello Ensign, you're dismissed," Logan said as three security guards walked in behind him.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm under orders to remain here and stand guard over…" he was cut short.

"Who gave that order?"

"Lt. Kendal, sir,"

"I suggest that you stand aside and let us do what we came to do," he told him.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't,"

"As of this moment, you're relieved of your duties Ensign. You're fired," the Admiral told him.

"Geez do you ever shut up?" a voice asked.

The Admiral turned around, only to have Jen catch him with a sabat kick across the jaw, taking him down. The three guards made their move, but it was Katie who grabbed them, throwing them against the wall. Logan was back to his feet, grabbing Katie by the throat with one hand and lifting her up. Jen tried to stop him, but the guards grabbed her.

"Your time is up Logan," he paused. "I've always wanted to say that," Ensign Claw said as he hit a spinning heel kick on Logan, forcing him to let go of Katie. One of the guards rushed at him, but he did a flip, landing on the guard's shoulders, then spun around, taking him down. The two final guards went after him, but Ensign Claw jumped up, snatching a lighting fixture off the ceiling, using it to hit one of the guards in the face. As the guard fell, Ensign Claw gave the other one a sweep, dropping it to his knees. He tried to get up, but it was Katie who grabbed him, throwing him out the infirmary.

"Nice moves kid," Jen said. "What's your name?"

"Claw. Ensign Leonardo Claw," he said eagerly, extending his hand to her.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all," she said, ignoring his hand.

"You didn't think it was over, did you?" Admiral Logan asked as he got back to his feet, dusting himself off.

"What the hell are you?" Katie asked.

"More than your puny minds can comprehend. I am the beginning and ending, the…" he was cut short as Ensign Claw picked up the fixture, stabbing Admiral Logan in the chest.

The fixture was lodged in his chest, but Logan pulled it out, and the wound began to heal itself. "Now that was a nice trick," he sighed.

Katie picked up the fixture again, hitting him in the face, knocking him through the door. "Computer, erect a level 10 force field around the infirmary and all entrance points," she said.

'Force field active,' the computer announced. 

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Ensign Claw asked.

"That information is on a need to know basis,"

"I think I _need_ to know, considering that the highest ranking officer in Time Force just tried to kill me to get to people who are already dead," he pointed out.

"The kid is right," Katie said.

"But that's _all_ he is, a kid. You're talking about telling him top-secret information that could alter the course of history. I'm sorry, I can't authorize that," he said.

"Technically, you quit Time Force. That makes _me_ the highest-ranking officer here, and _I_ say we need all the help we can get. You're in kid," Katie said.

"In? In what?"

_'Lucas to Katie. I've got the targeting sensors back on line,'_ he said.

Katie reached for her Morpher. "Great. Lock onto Camille and Trip, teleport them to the coordinates I left in the computer main frame," she said.

'I have the coordinates, but that will put them in…' 

"I know where it is Lucas, just trust me,"

_'Stand by,'_ he said. Moments later, Camille and Trip's bodies disappeared into a stream of light. _'Alright, now what?'_

"I have three to teleport directly to the science lab," she said.

'Three?' 

"Like I said, you'll have to trust me,"

'You got it Katie. Standby,' 

Seconds later, the three of them disappeared into the stream of light.


	7. Chapter Seven

"I'll only be able to maintain the cloak on the ship for about 30 minutes. After that, I'll have to tap into the ship's internal power. If I do, we won't have enough power to sustain the trip back to Earth. Not to mention without all our fuel cells, we won't be able to engage the hyper drive. We'll be defenseless," Carmen explained.

"So we'll have to hurry," he turned to Adam. "If we're not back in twenty five minutes, go on without us," he said.

"Sir?"

"You heard me. If we're not back in twenty-five minutes, there's no reason for you to be killed coming in after us. I'm giving you a direct order to take the ship and return home," he told him.

"Yes sir,"

"Alright Carmen, lets go,"

Tommy and Carmen walked to the back of the shuttle, giving the nod to Adam, who activated the teleportation system. Within seconds, the two of them disappeared into a stream of light, and rematerialized outside the shuttle.

"Which way?" Tommy asked as he glanced around, getting a good look at his surroundings.

The entire planet seemed to be covered in sand, with no signs of life as far as the eye could see. There were no trees, no water, nothing. The blue-tinted sun shined down on them, forcing them to put their hands over their eyes to shield them.

Carmen pulled a small tracking device out her pocket, scanning the area. "This way," she said, pointing north. Without question, the two of them headed north.

The two of them remained silent as they walked; Carmen paying very close attention to her tracking device, which beeped as they got closer.

"What else can you tell me? You know, about the future," Tommy brought up, trying to spark up a conversation.

"Just that it was a living hell. Even before the time line shifted, there were heavy causalities for Time Force. The Harvengers are unlike anything you've ever encountered before, and at this point in time, you will have nothing to stop them," she said.

"Are you saying _you_ did have something?"

"Yes, a months years ago," she chuckled slightly. "A few months ago _my_ time, Admiral Summers and I began constructing a new Morpher, a Morpher even more powerful than the Black Chrono Prototype that Adam has. We called it the Omega Project, and we spent most of our spare time perfecting it," she said.

"Did it work?"

"I don't know. Captain Emery believed that it was much too powerful for any one person to maintain, so it was locked away. Before I came here, a friend of mine was on his way to get the Morpher, but I have no idea if it made a difference in the war," she explained.

"So you really don't…" he paused. "Wait a sec, _Captain_ Emery?" he inquired.

"Yes. In my time, Captain James Emery is one of the most decorated officers in Time Force. He was responsible for leading us to victory against the android invasion a few years back. He also the negotiated peace treaties for over three dozen worlds, expanding Time Force in ways that no one had thought possible," she said.

"James? He always struck me as…"

"I know how you felt about him. After he took over as head of the Slipstream project, you were always a little jealous of him,"

"Jealous? Of James, I don't think…"

"We've got company," Carmen said.

The two of them stood back to back as creatures seemed to climb out the sand. Each of them were at least three feet tall, and each had several tentacles with claw-like hands on the end.

"Did you order the overgrown lobster?" he asked.

"No, but as long as they're here, how about we make'em well done?" she suggested.

"Sounds good,"

Tommy coupled his hands together, giving Carmen an extra booth that allowed her to land on one of the creature's backs. She quickly took off her uniform jacket, wrapping it around the throat – or at least what she _thought_ was the throat – and began to choke it. The creature responded by jerking forward, knocking Carmen off its back and back into the sand. Tommy tried to check on her, but the second creature reached out, grabbing him.

"Dad!" she screamed, trying to run to his rescue, but was grabbed by the first creature. 

The creatures slithered through the sand, making their way to what appeared to be a cliff of some kind. Tommy managed to glance over the side, but couldn't see what was on the bottom.

"Sorry guys, this is where I get off," he struggled to get his arm free. "TIME FOR, TIME FORCE," he called out, transforming himself into the red ranger. He quickly called for his chrono saber, slicing off the creature's tentacles. As he fell to the ground, the creature lunged at him, but Tommy fell to the ground, allowing the creature to jump over him and over the side of the cliff.

The second creature was about to throw Carmen over the side of the cliff, but Tommy threw his saber, cutting the creature's tentacles. Carmen fell to the ground, picked up the saber, and with one good swing, sliced the creature's head off. The creature's lifeless body fell to the ground as blood began to gush out the open wound.

"Suddenly I'm not very hungry anymore," she sighed.

Tommy walked over to her. "Come on, let's keep moving," he sighed.

~

"Sir, we have reason to believe that the Time Force shuttle survived our attack," one of the Omaraian soldiers said, saluting his superior office.

"How is that possible? We all saw the shuttle destroyed," he mentioned.

"Yes sir, but there is no debris, no signs of the shuttle's hull anywhere. We suspect that it may have been…"

"Cloaked. I should have known. Alert the guards, the shuttle must be found and its occupants brought in. Also, dispatch a sub-space communication to Admiral Logan at Time Force, tell him the shuttle has eluded us for the time being," he said.

"We've been trying to send a communication, but everything at Time Force headquarters seems to be shut down,"

"What do you mean?"

"Our sensors say that everything should be functioning normally, but it all just seems to be… turned off," he told him.

"Well keep trying. In the meantime, our main goal should be finding that shuttle," the General said.

"Yes sir,"

~

Adam sat in the shuttlecraft impatiently, staring endlessly at the clock on the control panel. _'Its only been 6 minutes. Geez, I'm going to go crazy in here,'_ he thought to himself.

He kept telling himself that he would be more helpful out there with Tommy and Carmen, instead of just sitting in the shuttle on stand by. Just then, one of the lights on the shuttle began to flash. Adam stood up, rushing over to the opposite panel.

"Omaraians. A lot of them, and they're headed for Tommy and Carmen," he sighed.

He quickly sat down in front of the controls again, but stopped himself. _'If I go after them, I'll use up the last of the fuel cells and we won't be able to make it back home,'_ he thought. _'But if I don't do something now, both of them will be killed,'_

It didn't take him very long to make up his mind. "Computer, activate engines and tap into reserve power," he said.

_'Reserve power at 45%,'_ the computer answered.

"I understand that. Engage the engines,"

_'Warning. Vessel approaching,'_ it told him.

"Oh great. What else can go wrong today?" he groaned.

~

"There is it. The temple," Carmen said.

The two of them stared upward at the temple, which seemed to simply tower over them. Tommy found it odd that, considering how big it was, he didn't see the temple from orbit.

"Okay, so how do we get in?"

"We have to solve the riddle," she said.

"The riddle? What riddle?"

"This one," she said, pointing to markings on the side of the temple.

Tommy glanced at them, but none it seemed to make any sense. "It looks like chicken scratch to me. How do you know it's a riddle?"

"Its not chicken scratch, it's written in Omaraian. The language isn't hard to understand, its based loosely on Latin. See," she pointed to some of the markings. "A lot of it is early Latin, but the grammar seems a little off," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Hold on a sec," she stared up at the markings on the temple, trying to decode them. "It says **B DBBCC, DBADABCDA B AC**," she told him.

"What?"

"It's encoded. Each encoded letter represents more than one real letter," she said.

"What?"

"I'm going to need time to decode it," Carmen said. "But there's a problem,"

"What is it?"

"According to this, I only get once chance at the riddle. If I get it wrong, we'll both be killed, instantly," she said. "And I only have 1 minute to answer it correctly,"

"I don't wanna put any pressure on you, but _NOW_ would be a good time to figure it out," Tommy turned around, only to see another group of sand creatures coming towards them. "You take care of the riddle, I'll go dance with our friends," he said as he pulled out his Chrono Saber, standing in-between them and the temple.


	8. Chapter Eight

"Okay, lets go over this one more time," he paused, going over the readings on the control panel. "Secondary processors are properly aligned, the primary systems are active, and the auxiliary power has been restored. That should be it," Lucas said proudly, going over his work one final time.

"Did it work?" Nadira asked him.

"I think so," he paused. "Computer, what is the status of the targeting censors?"

_'Targeting censors are operating at 100% efficiency,'_ the computer answered.

"Excellent," he pressed a button on the control panel. "Lucas to Katie. I've got the targeting sensors back on line," he said.

_'Great. Lock onto Camille and Trip, teleport them to the coordinates I left in the computer main frame,'_ a voice responded.

Lucas quickly pulled up the coordinates Katie left in the computer, but was confused about them. _"I have the coordinates, but that will put them in…"_

'I know where it is Lucas, just trust me,' 

"Stand by," he turned to the opposite control panel, getting a lock on Camille and Trip's bodies with the censors. "What the…" he paused.

"What is it?" Nadira asked.

"There's something in Camille's bio-reading. Something I've never seen before,"

"What?"

"I don't know, some kind of implant. I wonder why the censors never picked it up before," he said. "According to this, it wasn't inserted recently. It must have _always_ been there," he said.

"We'll debate about it later, just teleport them,"

Lucas nodded, activating the teleportation sequence, and then reopened the channel to Katie. "Alright, now what?"__

_'I have three to teleport directly to the science lab,'_ she said.

Lucas and Nadira looked at one another. "Three?" 

'Like I said, you'll have to trust me,' "You got it Katie. Standby," he activated the teleportation sequence, and moments later, Katie, Jen and Ensign Claw materialized in the science lab. 

"Whoa! That was sweet," Ensign Claw said, staring around the science lab.

"You get use to it," she turned to Lucas. "The Harvengers are already here," Jen told him.

"What?"

"We saw it ourselves. Admiral Logan, and Lt. Carey, Lt. Montgomery, Ensign Shaefer and Lt. Commander Steward were all turned into Harvengers," she said.

"But how? When?"

"I don't know, but I _do_ know that sooner or later, they'll be able to get through these force fields. When they do, there won't be anything we can do to stop them,"

"But there's only four of them, we can handle that. Right?" Nadira asked. "I mean, hello, power rangers," he mentioned, pointing to her morpher.

"We _could_ handle it if there were only four, but the three security guards weren't Harvengers until Logan got to them. At this rate, they can convert officers and civilians within seconds. If one Harvenger can convert three officers, the four of them can convert…"

"We don't need to go over the math, we need to find ways to stop them," Katie brought up.

"We know stabbing them through the chest with sharp, pointy things is out," Ensign Claw said.

"If we can't kill them, how do we stop them?"

"How did Logan infect the others?" Jen asked.

"Can you pull up the surveillance footage from the holding cells? Maybe we can see how and when he infected them," 

Without a second thought, Lucas turned back to the computer. Moments later, surveillance cameras from the holding cells appeared on the screen. "Got it,"

"Okay, now go back about an hour. Whatever he did, it _had_ to happen there," 

All of them reviewed the footage, until finally, they saw it. "Look, he punched through the wall and deactivated the force field, then knocked out security," Katie said.

"Yuck, his arm got snatched off,"

"And he put on Lt. Steward's arm like it was a ring,"

"See," he paused the tape. "It's the blood. Something about the blood infects people," Lucas mentioned, pointing to the screen.

"We need to get a sample of the blood, maybe we can come up with an anti-toxin," she turned to Nadira. "Dira, you and Katie try to corner one of them and contain them. Once we…" she was cut short.

"That's suicide Jen, I refuse to let any of us go out there for…" this time, Katie was cut short.

"This isn't up for discussion. I gave you…"

"What? An order? You quit, remember? I know you were emotional when you decided to quit, and I know your resignation isn't official, but until you get a hold of your own emotions, you're in no condition to give orders. I'm assuming control," Katie told her, holding her ground.

"Damn it Katie we don't have time for this,"

"You're right, we don't," she turned to Lucas. "Can you track one of those Harvengers?" she asked.

"I think so,"

"Isolate one of them and corner them with a force field. After you have one trapped, use the environmental controls to pump Enestasene into the air. That should be knock'em out," she said.

"Enestasene?" Ensign Claw asked, hoping someone would elaborate.

"It's a gas. In large amounts, it would be enough to kill the average human, but in this case, it may be just what we need to take one of these things out," Katie said.

"I've got one. Its on it's way to the lab,"

"Lock him down,"

"Do you really think this'll work?" Jen asked.

"Its better than your suicide plan," she mentioned.

"Force fields in place. I'm releasing the gas… now," he paused. "Okay, I've got it. Its in the main hallway right outside the lab," Lucas said.

"Good work,"

At that moment, someone punched through the wall. Within seconds, Admiral Logan ripped his way through the wall, losing an arm in the process.

"Oh great, I just got that arm. Oh well, I guess I'll have to borrow one of yours," he groaned, rushing towards them.

_"TIME FOR, TIME FORCE,"_ Katie and Nadira said in uniform, replacing their clothes with their ranger uniforms. Each of them called for their sabers, standing in front of Logan.

"Your time is up Logan," Nadira said.

"Geez, you guys really need to come up with a new catch phrase," he said, cocking back and hitting Nadira, knocking her half way across the room. She collided with the slipstream, falling the ground as she powered down.

Katie swung with her saber, slicing his head off. His severed head fell to the ground, and Katie gave him a sabat kick, taking his body down. All of them watched in amazement as Logan's body picked up the head, putting it back on his shoulders.

"You have any idea how much that hurt?" he asked. Katie swung again, but Logan caught the sword in his hand, then gave Katie a backhand, knocking her through the hole in the wall. "Now, which one of you are going to be nice enough to show me out the slipstream works?"

"Computer, lock out all command functions. Authorization Kendal, Beta 65," Lucas said.

_'All command functions disabled,'_ the computer responded.

"I see we're going to have to do this the hard way," Logan sighed, grabbing Lucas by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "One of you tell me how to operate the slipstream, or he dies,"

"If we tell you, you'll kill him anyway," Jen said.

"Well, you're right," he said, snapping Lucas' neck, then let him go as Lucas' body fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Ensign Claw rushed over to Lucas, checking on him. "Oh God, he's dead," he sighed.

*

The sand creatures lunged itself at Tommy, pinning him down to the ground. One of the tentacles reached out for him, but Tommy got his footing, kicking the creature off him, knocking him into the second one. As it got back to his feet, the third creature wrapped its tentacle around his neck, lifting him off the ground.

"Anytime now Carmen," Tommy mumbled, struggling to breath.

"I'm working on it," she screamed, never taking her eyes off the engravings in the wall.

Tommy called for his saber, cutting the tentacle and falling to the ground. As he got back to his feet, two of the creatures went after him, but Tommy ducked, and the two of them collided. As they fell to the ground, Tommy cocked back and threw his saber at the third one, stabbing it in the throat. Finally, Tommy let out a sigh of relief as he fell to his knees, but another group of sand creatures rose from under the sand, making their way towards him.

"Oh great," he mumbled.

"Alright, I think I've got it," she paused, reading over it again. "I think… something," she groaned.

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"I'm working on it here," she snapped, turning back to the temple. "Fore… fore something. I think for something…" she paused. "We're running out of time," she sighed.

"You don't have to tell me twice,"

"I just did,"

"Quite, you have to let me think…"

Two of the sand creatures attacked Tommy, wrapping their tentacles around his neck. The others used their claws, ripping at his uniform. It was enough to make him power down as the creatures began tearing into his chest.

"I got it," she cleared her throat. "**_I think, therefore I am,_**" Carmen said.

At that moment, a wave of light shot out the temple wall, vaporizing the sand creatures instantly. Tommy fell to the ground, holding his chest in pain. Carmen shielded her eyes from the light, but when it died down, she hurried over to Tommy.

"You okay?"

"Did it work?" he mumbled.

The two of them glanced over at the temple wall, only to see a small opening of light. "It's a… doorway," she said. "Can you walk?"

Tommy stumbled to his feet, still holding his ribs in pain. "I'll manage, just come on,"

They headed for the temple, making their way into temple.

~~

"General, we've picked up something interesting," one of the Omaraians said.

"What is it?"

"An ion trail," he said.

"Whats so interesting about an ion trail?"

"Normally nothing, if it were coming from a ship. These ion trails are simply appearing, which suggests that it might be…"

"A cloaked ship,"

"Yes sir. I think the Time Force is still here, and based on these readings, is near the sacred temple," he said.

"Lock phaser cannons on the source of the ion trail and open fire," he said.

~~

The entire shuttle shook, knocking Adam out of his seat. He quickly regrouped, getting back to his feet and rushing over to the controls.

_'Hull breach in aft section. Impulse engines are off line,'_ the computer told him.

"What happened?" Before the computer could answer, the shuttle shook again. "I'm under attack," he said.

_'Drive system has been compromised. Core breach in 60 seconds,'_ the computer said.

"Oh great," he paused. "Disengage the cloak and set a course for the source of the attack," he ordered.

The cloak disengaged, and the ship began to move towards the Omaraian fleet.

~~

"General, our readings indicate that the core of the shuttle has been breached and will explode in 45 seconds," the soldier said.

"Good work,"

"But sir, the ship is on a collision course with our fleet. If it explodes, it'll take most of our fleet with it," he said.

"Order the fleet to raise their shields and pull back,"

~~

"They're backing off. Good, that'll buy me some time," Adam said. "Computer, is there enough power to teleport me out of here?"

_'Affirmative. Sufficient power is available,'_ the computer said.

Adam snatched Carmen's Morpher off the control panel, tearing the wires off the panel. "Get me outta here," he said.

~~

"Sir, our readings say one line form has teleported off the shuttle," the soldier said.

"Is the shuttle still on a collision course?"

"Yes sir. The human is attempting to teleport off the shuttle"

"Emmit a thorolon pulse, that will block the teleportation process. Have the rest of the fleet pull back to avoid the explosion. If that shuttle does explode, so will the human," he said.

"Yes sir,"

~~

_'Unable to teleport,'_ the computer told him.

"What? Why not?"

_'Thorolon radiation is interfering with teleportation,'_ the computer said. _'Core breach in 10 seconds,'_

"Just great. The end to an already perfect day," Adam sighed.

~~

In the distance, there was an explosion. It was enough to shake the entire temple, and Carmen, who was holding Tommy up, fell to the ground.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," he struggled to get back to his feet. "Lets just get the sphere and get out of here," Tommy told her.

The entire temple was pitch black, except for a spotlight in the middle of the room. As they got closer to the spotlight, a hooded figure stepped into the light.

"Welcome," the figure sighed.

"Who are you?"

"I am an Elder, keeper of the Sphere of Omara. I must congratulate you, many try to solve the riddle, but only a select few beings have succeeded," he told them.

"The riddle. I was able to figure it out, but what did it mean?" Carmen asked.

"I think, therefore I am. So many beings believe that the only way to acquire the sphere is to send a being that was not meant to exist. The riddle is to reaffirm the circumstances of ones existence isn't important, its what you _do_ with that existence that gives it meaning," he explained. "Why do you seek the power of the sphere?"

"Some of my friends were killed in the past, we need the sphere to revive them," Tommy said, holding his ribs in pain.

The Elder chuckled. "The past. I'm always tickled by you corporeal beings and your concepts of linear time," he sighed.

"We don't have time for this. Please, we need to bring our friends back," he said. 

"You misunderstand. The sphere does not _give_ life, it merely _restores_ what was wrongfully taken away," the Elder said.

"I don't understand,"

"For every life that is taken, one of given. Thus is the cycle for the entire universe and it cannot be altered," he said.

"All this is fascinating, but we're running out of time. We need the sphere," Carmen said.

The Elder reached behind his back, revealing the sphere. "Remember, the sphere has no control over the cycle of the universe. Life and death are both aspects of the known universe and cannot be changed," he said.

"Thank you Elder," she said as the Elder handed her the sphere.

~~

The two of them walked out the temple, and just as quickly as the entrance appeared, it disappeared. 

"That was intense," Tommy mumbled, still holding his ribs in pain.

"Come on, we need to get you back to the shuttle," she said.

"You mean _that_ shuttle?" he inquired, pointing to debris scattered through out the sand.

"Oh God, Adam!"

Tommy reached for his Morpher. "Adam. Come in," he said.

But there was nothing.

"Oh God no. It wasn't his time," Carmen cried.

At that moment, Adam materialized in front of them, but his ranger uniform had been badly damaged. The second he decloaked, he fell to his knees. "Nice to know you guys care about me," he sighed.

"You're alright," she squealed, rushing over to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm okay, but the shuttle was destroyed. There was a core breach and I was trapped inside when it exploded, but I managed to switch on the phased cloak and get out of there," he noticed the sphere in her hand. "Great, you got it,"

"Yeah, but now we don't a way back home," he said.

"Um, guys," Tommy called out. "That's the least of our problems,"

The two of them turned around only to see an armada of Omaraian troops making their way towards them, all of them with weapons in hand.

"Oh great," Adam sighed. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Lt. James Emery, Leo Claw and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar: I love you more than you know.

Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.

~~~

He'd remained silent the entire trip, never saying a word unless it were to confirm course and speed. Lt. Emery sat across from him, unsure of why he was even assigned to the mission. _'I'm sure the Commander could have handled this by himself,'_ he thought to himself.

While he was in the academy, everyone was aware of the reputation that Commander Alexander Collins had established for himself. No non-sense, by the book, unwavering. Most of the officers who made it through the academy eventually quit when assigned to Commander Collins, being in his presence alone was enough to send a shiver down his spine…

… but he knew the Commander a little better than others.

Lt. Emery was well aware of the shaky history between Captain Scott and Commander Collins, how she broke off their engagement to be someone from the past. During Jen's missing to the 21st century, the Commander was even more on edge than normal. He was strict on the junior officers, coming down on them for the simplest things. Including him. He recalled a few times when the Commander lectured him on the importance of protocol, and how following the rules and regulations was the backbone of any successful organization. But beneath all that, he knew that Alex was hurting, and was lashing out to cover his own pain.

Once he was given a Morpher and allowed to work with the other rangers, he was convinced it would give him a chance to get to know the Commander better, but it was quite the opposite. He began to see even less of the Commander, but based on what the other rangers had to say about him, he came to the conclusion that behind those deeply tinted sunglasses was a big softy.

"Commander," he called out, breaking the silence between them.

"Lieutenant," he answered, never taking his eyes off the controls.

He paused, trying to come up with something to say. "Um, according to the coordinates, we're on our way to Omara," he brought up.

"That's right,"

"Are we going after Commander Oliver and Lt. Park?" he asked them.

"Something like that,"

"I'd just feel more comfortable if I knew more about the mission we were on. It would allow me…" he was cut short.

"You know what you _need_ to know. Now shut up and…" he paused, finally taking his eyes off the controls as he turned to Lt. Emery. "James, sorry about that. I'm just under a lot of pressure here," he sighed.

"Permission to speak freely?" he requested.

"Granted,"

"What the hell is going on? Rumors are going around the academy that Harvengers are on their way to Earth, that Admiral Logan had Tommy and Adam killed. If I'm going to be able to help you on this mission, you need to tell me what's happening," he said.

He nodded. "Its all true. It was reported that the Admiral ordered the shuttle shut out of orbit, but I suspect that Tommy isn't that easy to get rid of,"

"So that's why we're on our way to Omara?"

"Just in case he was destroyed in that shuttle, we still need the sphere of Omara,"

"I've done my homework on the sphere of Omara. Legends foretold that only someone who wasn't meant to exist would be allowed attain the sphere,"

"Yes. Many have tried to get the sphere, but wasn't able to gain access into the temple. For those who _were_ meant to exist, they wouldn't be able to read the riddle. It would appear as gibberish," he said.

"So what happens when you don't solve the riddle?"

"You're killed instantly,"

"Oh great. So how are _you_ planning to get into the temple?" he noticed the emotionless expression on Alex' face. "You weren't meant to exist?"

He shook his head. "How much do you know about the ranger's mission to the 21st century to capture Ransik?" he inquired.

"I know Jen dumped you to be with that guy in the past, but that's about it," he didn't realize how bluntly he'd said it until it was too late. "Sorry,"

Alex sighed. "Wes. His name was Wesley Collins,"

"Sooooooo, the two of you related?"

"Distant, but yes. Originally, Wes was supposed to be destroyed defending the city from Doomtron, but because Jen and the others changed history, he was allowed to live. He was eventually married, had a child, who is my direct descendant. That one incident allowed me to come into existence," he explained to him.

"So they were _meant_ to go to the past?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes,"

"But if you existed _before_ they went back in time, how were you able to go back in time to save Wes so that you _could_ exist to go back in time to save Wes? If he was supposed to die, you shouldn't have existed to even go back in time in the first place to save…" he held his head in pain. "Oh God, this is why I try to avoid time travel. It makes my head hurt," Lt. Emery sighed.

"I don't fully understand it all either, but…" he paused as a light on the panel began to blink. "There's a transport in progress," he said.

"Where?"

"Here. Something has been teleported here,"

"Life signs?"

"None. I'm going to check it out. Man the controls," 

"You got it,"  
  


Alex stood up, making his way out of the main bridge. As soon as the doors opened, he saw _them._ "What the hell?" he mumbled.

"What is it?"

"Its Camille and Trip," he said, staring down at their lifeless bodies.

"Why were they teleported here?"

"The Harvengers must have invaded Time Force. Jen probably had them teleported here to keep them safe," Alex said.

"So these Harvengers; they're the big bad, huh?"

"Trust me, no living being has faced these things and lived to tell about it. They are the single most dangerous race in the known universe. They make the Vorhsoth look like fluffy bunnies," he told him.

"Great. I was just thinking to myself when I woke up this morning that I could sure go for a hopeless battle, followed by horrible death," he said sarcastically.

"Well kid, you came to the right place,"

He sighed.

*

Admiral Logan grabbed Lucas by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "One of you tell me how to operate the slipstream, or he dies,"

"If we tell you, you'll kill him anyway," Jen said.

"Well, you're right," he said, snapping Lucas' neck, then let him go as Lucas' body fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Ensign Claw rushed over to Lucas, checking on him. "Oh God, he's dead," he sighed.

Katie made it back to her feet, picking up a metal pipe and rushing towards the Admiral. She stabbed him through the chest with it, and then lifted him up, swinging him and throwing him up against the wall. "Your ass belongs to me," she snapped.

Jen and Ensign Claw grabbed Lucas, pulling him to safety as Katie continued her attack on the Admiral. He tried to pull the metal pipe out his chest, but Katie bent it, then gave him a sabat kick that send him tumbling over a table. 

_"V WEAPON ON LINE,"_ she called out, and within moments, her cannon materialized in her hand. As the Admiral got back to her feet, she aimed and fired, blowing a hole in his chest. The Admiral's lifeless body fell to the floor, and Katie walked over to him again, this time aiming at his head.

"Your time is up," she snapped.

"Actually, _your_ time is up," the Admiral groaned.

Before Katie could fire, another Harvenger came up from behind, literally punching a hole through her back. Its fist came out through her chest, and when it snatched it back, Katie fell to the ground. With Katie out the way, the second Harvenger rushed over to the Admiral.

"You are injured,"

"I will be fine. I need more parts,"

"Where are the others?"

"They escaped during the battle,"

"Find them and convert them. Our time is nearly at hand," the Admiral told him.

"The entire building has been secured, only a few members of their personnel remain. Once those force fields are down, they will all fall to the Harvengers,"

"Excellent,"

~~

Jen and Ensign Claw drug Lucas into the main shuttle bay, quickly making their way over to one of the shuttlecrafts. Jen opened the door, and the two of them carefully pulled Lucas inside, closing the door behind them.

Once inside, Jen rushed over to the controls. "Computer, engage the cloak," she said.

_'Cloak is active,'_ the computer announced.

"What are we doing?"

"We're staying in here, we'll be safe," she said.

"We have to go back to Katie, she was hurt,"

She sighed. "There's nothing we can do for her now, not without the sphere of Omara," she paused, turning her attention to the controls. "With the sensors, we'll be able to track the Harvengers, and with the cloak on, we'll go undetected," she explained. She walked over to Lucas, going down to both knees and rubbing his face gently. "Oh Lucas, I'm sorry I couldn't help you. You were truly the best of us all," she sighed as a tear rolled down her face.

"We're in deep shit here, aren't we? For all we know, those things have infected everyone in the entire building, and the rest are dead. Assuming that Tommy and Adam are dead, and Commander Collins and Lt. Emery never made it to Omara, we're the only ones left," he explained.

"No, Nadira is out there somewhere. I saw her escape through one of the service crawlways during the fight. We'll have to find her soon though, or she might has well be dead,"

"Call her on your Morpher,"

She shook her head. "No, they might alert them to her presence. We'll just have to hope she's okay out there," just then, one of the controls on the panel began to beep. Jen quickly turned to them, going over the readings. "We have bigger problems,"

"What?"

"The Harvengers are going over the secondary power systems. If they get them off line, the force fields keeping them in the building will go off line. They'll be able to get out and infect the entire city," Jen sighed.

"We have to stop them,"

"You came up with that one all by yourself, huh? I _know_ we have to stop them, but how?"

"I don't know," Jen sighed.

*

"There was a core breach and I was trapped inside when it exploded, but I managed to switch on the phased cloak and get out of there," Adam noticed the sphere in her hand. "Great, you got it,"

"Yeah, but now we don't a way back home," she said.

"Um, guys," Tommy called out. "That's the least of our problems,"

The two of them turned around only to see an armada of Omaraian troops making their way towards them, all of them with weapons in hand.

"Oh great," Adam sighed. 

Within moments, the entire armada had surrounded them. The Omaraian general approached them with a weapon in hand, pointed at Carmen's chest. "By order of Admiral Logan and the Omaraian government, you are under arrest for violation of the…" he was cut short as Tommy stepped inbetween the weapon and Carmen.

"Our friends are in trouble, we need that sphere," he told them.

"I understand your plight Commander, but our orders are clear. We will hold you here until Admiral Logan sends a transport to retrieve you," the general told him.

Tommy took another step forward. "We're running out of time. Stand aside," he said firmly.

The general motioned to his troops, signaling them to aim their weapons at the group. "Stand down Commander, I will shoot you,"

Tommy quickly gave the general a leg sweep, knocking him off balance. He grabbed him, putting his arm behind his back and aimed the weapon at the general's head. "Order you men to stand down or I will shoot you," he snapped.

"I know you. You've taken the oath of Time Force, you will not kill a defenseless being," he mentioned.

"You sure about that?"

"Tommy, don't," Adam called out.

"Dad, this isn't the way. We can't sacrifice one life to save another, it isn't right," Carmen told him.

"We're saving countless billions of lives. I say the ends justify the means,"

"The taking of an innocent life can never be justified. We'll find another way to save Camille and Trip," she said.

"There is no other way,"

"If Camille and Trip were here, they wouldn't want it this way. They wouldn't want to live knowing it cost someone else their life,"

Finally, Tommy's conscious got the best of him as he dropped the weapon, letting go of the general. The general turned around, picking up his weapon and aimed it at Tommy. "Give yourselves up and I promise none of you will be harmed," he said.

At that moment, it began to get dark. All of them looked up, only to see…

"The Time Shadow Megazord," Adam said.

The Time Shadow landed about twenty feet away from the Omaraian troops, and Commander Collins materialized in front of them. "General Kovan, what is going on here?" he inquired, never taking off his deeply tinted sunglasses.

"By order of Admiral Logan, I am to…"

"Admiral Logan is dead. He was under the influence of an alien force when he gave you the order to have them killed. _I _sent them here to retrieve the sphere to save our friends and protect the planet. Stand down," he ordered.

General Kovan nodded. "As you wish Commander," he motioned to his troops, and one by one, they walked away. "Good luck Commander, and may the power protect you," the general said as he turned to walk away.

Alex turned his attention to Tommy. "You okay?"

"I've been better. We have to get the sphere back to Earth, there is only a few hours left before its too late to save Camille and Trip," he said.

He glanced over at Carmen. "Who is this?"

"Lt. Commander Carmen Oliver," she said proudly. "Its good to see you're alright Admiral," she said warmly.

"_Admiral?_ And why wouldn't I be okay?"

"It's a long story Alex, we'll tell you on the way home," Tommy sighed.

  
~~

The four of them stepped onto the bridge of the Time Shadow Megazord, where Lt. Emery was sitting at the controls. "I take it everything went well," he mentioned.

"Everything is fine. Adam, take the controls and set a source back to Earth at maximum speed. Tommy, Carmen, the two of you come with me," Alex said. Without question, Adam headed to the controls while Tommy and Carmen followed Alex towards the back of the zord. He waited until they were far enough away from the bridge before he said anything. "I'm afraid this invasion is going very badly for Time Force. When Lt. Emery and I left, over 70% of the personnel had already been changed into Harvengers. Jen was able to put force fields in place to hold them all inside, but she failed to realize that the Admiral was _sent_ to Time Force by Chryo Tech," he told them.

"They were already out, weren't they?"

He nodded. "There's no telling how many civilians have already been infected. By based on the rate of infection within Time Force alone, its safe to assume that the entire city has been changed. Even with Camille and Trip, our efforts may be in vain," Alex explained.

"Still, we have to try. There's still a chance,"

He turned to Carmen. "You're from the future, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes,"

"Admiral Summers told me that sooner or later you'd come here, she _knew_ this was going to happen,"

"Think about it; if Time Force existed in the future, that means we eventually found a way to defeat the Harvengers. We _do_ survive," Tommy said.

"No, I told you there was no way to defeat them, but Admiral Summers was working on a way to contain them. Alex may be right, the containment procedures were meant to hold a few Harvengers, not an entire city," she said.

"So you're saying we should just give up?"

"I'm saying before we go storming back into Time Force Headquarters, we need some type of plan," Alex told them.

"Our first priority should be to get to Trip and Camille's bodies,"

"They're already here. Jen had them teleported here," Alex said.

"Why?"

"Harvengers must have figured out our plan and tried to get rid of the bodies. Take me to them," she said.

"They're in the cargo hold. Perform the ritual," he ordered.

"I'm on it," she said, heading for the cargo hold.

"We're not going to get out of this one in one piece, are we?" Tommy asked.

"Not this time," Alex sighed.


	10. Chapter Ten

_"Katie," a voice echoed._

Katie glanced around the room, trying to determine not only where she was, but also how she got there. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing. It was obviously a room, but she couldn't figure out where it began or ended. 'Is this the Temple of Light,' she wondered to herself, but quickly ruled it out. Wherever she was, it much darker than the temple, but light enough for her to see. There were no windows, no doors, nothing. Simply a void.

_"Whos there?" she called out._

_"Hello my love," she heard a voice say._

_Even before she turned around, she recognized the voice, but couldn't believe it. "Ransik?" she quickly turned around, only to see Ransik standing in front of her. She rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I've missed you so much," she cried._

_"And I've missed you, but you're not suppose to be here,"_

_She backed away, staring at him. "What do you mean? Where am I exactly?" she inquired._

_"Think of it as Purgatory; the half way point between heaven and hell, the space between life and death,"_

_"Am I… dead?" she asked, noticing the hole in her stomach._

_"You're not supposed to be here. The rangers need you, you're the key,"_

_"The key? The key to what?"_

_"The rangers survivals. You're needed Katie, you have to go," he told her._

_"Why can't I just stay here with you? I've missed you," she cried._

_"When the time comes, we'll be together again, but now isn't the time," he said, waving his hand over her wound. _

_She glanced down again, and the wound was gone. "I don't want to go back,"_

_"You must. Good luck my love, and may the power protect you," he sighed._

Katie opened her eyes, sitting up in a cold sweat only to find herself laying on the floor in the science lab. She touched her stomach to see if her wound was still there, and although there was a hole in her uniform, the wound was completely healed. She glanced around the room as she began to remember what happened.

_'There was a fight. One of those things punched me,'_ she thought to herself. She stood up, walking over to the computer. "Computer, what is Captain Scott's location?" she asked.

_'Unable to comply. Command functions are off line,'_ the computer told her.

"On whos authority?"

'Unable to comply,' 

"That's just great," she paused. "If command functions are off line, what systems are available to me?" she asked.

_'Environmental controls,'_ the computer answered.

"Can you tell me _when_ the command functions were locked?"

'Negative,' 

"You're no help, you know that?" Katie sighed.

'Please restate your request,' 

"Nevermind,"

Just then, something hit Katie from behind, knocking her into the control panel. She stumbled forward, and before she could get her footing, she felt the barrel of a phaser in her back. "Stop right there Harvenger, or I'll pull…" 

"Nadira?" she replied, recognizing the voice.

"Oh sure, you may _look_ like Katie, and even _sound_ like Katie, but you're not her," she snapped.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I saw them kill you. I thought they infected you," she said.

Katie turned around. "Nadira, I'm half Ethros, I heal quickly. Remember?" she asked.

"If you're the _real_ Katie, prove it"

"You're being an annoying brat right now Dira, and we don't have time for this," she snapped.

Nadira put her phaser down. "Alright, its you. Jen and that Claw guy managed to get out of here, but I don't know where they went. I wanna call them, but if I do, I might tip the Harvengers off to where they are," she mentioned.

"If I know Jen, she'd go somewhere that she would be able to track them undetected,"

"The shuttle bay,"

"She probably made it to a shuttle and switched on the cloak. Even with main power off line in the lab, the shuttle's sensors would be on line," Katie said.

"We should go there too,"

She shook her head. "No, we should make our way to the main generators. If the Harvengers figure out that force fields are controlled by secondary power, they'll try to shut it down so they can drop the force fields. Right now that's the only thing keeping them in the building,"

"What makes you think they wanna get out?"

"What so you mean?"

"What makes you think they're not already out there? Its not like they were created in here, they came from Chryo Tech. They've probably gotten to most of the city by now," she brought up.

"If that's the case, then the force fields are the only thing that are keeping the rest of Harvengers from getting in here. We're having enough problems dealing with the ones in here, we don't need anymore,"

"Where are the generators?" Nadira asked.

"On deck twelve, but with main power down we can't take the turbo lift. We'll have to take the service crawl ways," she said as she turned towards the entrance to the service crawl way, only for Nadira to pick up a board and hit Katie over the head, knocking her unconscious.

As Katie hit the ground, Nadira reached for a small communication device in her pocket. "You were right Admiral, the generators _are_ on deck twelve," she said.

'Excellent work Nadira,' a voice responded. 

"I also have reason to believe that Jen is hiding in one of the shuttle bays in a cloaked ship,"

'Are the environmental controls still on line?' 

"Yes Admiral,"

_'Flood all the shuttle bays with Florozene gas, that will make the shuttle vision, but only for a moment. Once the shuttle is located, use explosives to eliminate it,'_ he told her.

"Yes my master," she sighed.

*

"We're approximately six minutes away from Time Force headquarters, but theres a problem," Adam mentioned, never taking his eyes off the controls in the Time Shadow Megazord.

Alex walked over to him, glancing over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"The emergency force fields are in place, we won't be able to dock in the cargo bay," he said.

"Can you deactivate the force fields?"

"I recommend against it," Lt. Emery said.

"Why?"

"No doubt Jen and the others put of the force fields for a reason. Maybe they thought they were containing the Harvengers inside the building," he brought up.

"Even if we wanted to shut them down, we can't. Main power is off line and the command functions have been locked,"

"So how are we suppose to get in there to help them?" Alex asked.

"I have an idea, but I can't guarantee this will work," Adam said.

Alex paused. "Do you what you have to do, but we're running out of time,"

Adam reached in his uniform pocket, pulling out a Morpher. "Its Carmen's Morpher, I took it out the shuttle before it exploded," he said.

"Whats your plan?"

"When we were being attacked by the Omaraians, she linked the shuttle to her Morpher and initiated the cloak. It was enough to allow the Omaraians to think we were destroyed. I'm hoping I can link the Morpher to the zord and activate the phased cloak so we can…" he was cut short.

"Pass right through the force field without being detected,"

"Exactly," 

"Great, get the cloak on line," Alex said.

"Theres a downside,"

"I should have known. What is it?"

"Carmen was the one who designed this thing, not me. If I do something wrong and the cloak doesn't come on line, we'll crash into the force field, and the impact will be enough to crush the zord and kill us all," he explained.

"Well, what other choice do we have?" Lt. Emery asked.

"I'll get Carmen to do the modifications," Alex said, heading for the cargo hold.

~~

She'd been on dozens of missions that required her to travel back in time, most of them into the past to either prevent or repair temporal incursions, but this one was different to her. Part of her wanted to alter the past, to prevent what was to come, but her oath to Time Force wouldn't allow it. 

She thought to her past, which, for the people around her, hadn't happened yet. She remembered being forced to watch as her parents were transformed into Harvengers, how she was powerless to stop it from happening. But now, she had a chance. Now, she could prevent it from ever happening.

"I can't," she mumbled to herself.

When she was sent back for this mission, she knew what the risks would be. Her superiors warned her not to get emotionally involved with the mission. Although she assured them she wouldn't, she knew better. _'Its my father, my mother, all of their friends,'_ she thought to herself. She turned to Camille, who was laying lifeless on the floor of the cargo hold. _'After mom died, Camille as always like a mother to me,'_ she sighed.

She took comfort in knowing that although there was nothing she could do to save her parents from their impending fates, she could save Camille, and Camille would be able to save countless billions in the future.

Carmen picked up the sphere, placing it gently in Camille's hand and closed it. Within seconds, the sphere began to glow, and light filled the entire cargo hold. Once the light dimmed, she quickly took the sphere out Camille's hand, putting it in Trip's. Again, the sphere began to glow. 

Alex walked into the cargo hold and was forced to cover his eyes, and when the light faded, Carmen walked over to him.

"Everything will be okay now," she sighed.

Before he could respond, there was a wave of disorientation. Alex stumbled back, trying to shake it off, but when he regained his senses, Carmen was gone. 

He rushed over to Camille, checking on her. "Lieutenant, can you hear me?" he called out, but nothing. "Camille?" He quickly turned to Trip. "Trip, can you hear me? Wake up," he sighed, but nothing.

With a sigh, Alex made his way back into the cockpit of the zord, where Adam and Lt. Emery were still at the controls. "How's is coming?" he asked.

"I think I have it, but I'd like Carmen to look over my modifications just to be sure," Adam said.

Alex paused. "Carmen who?"

"Carmen. You just went back there to…" he was cut short.

"When she brought back Camille and Trip, the time line must have shifted. She's gone," Tommy pointed out.

"And because we all have morphers, we're shielded from the shifts so we remember her being here," Lt. Emery added.

"Exactly,"

"That's great, but there's about two minutes to impact and unless we're absolutely sure about this cloak, we'll all going to be crushed," Adam brought up.

"Activate the cloak,"

"But if I do, and it doesn't work, we'll be dead anyway. I have no way to be sure if the phased cloak in aligned correctly," he said.

"Let me take a look at it," a voice said.

The three of them turned around as _she_ stepped out of the cargo hold.

"Camille, you're…"

"Send me flowers later," she hurried over to the control panel, looking over Adam's modifications. "James, adjust the lateral sensor array to a rotating frequency of 6.651 and switch on the main deflector on my mark," she said.

"You got it," Lt. Emery said, focusing his attention to the controls.

Adam stood up, allowing Camille to sit in front of the controls. "Activate the deflector… now," she said.

"Deflector on line,"

"Activating the cloak… now. Switching the phased cloak in 3…2…1…" she paused as the lights in the zord dimmed. "That's it, the phased cloak is on line," she said.

"Glad to see that even after being dead for ten hours you'll still on top of your game," Tommy said.

Camille stood up, walking over to Tommy and wrapping her arms around him. "Boy am I glad to see you," she sighed.

"Look at that, I've been dead for God knows how long and you're already cheating on me," a voice said. "What happened to the appropriate mourning period after a loved one dies?"

Again, the group turned around and _he_ walked into the control room.

"Trip!" Alex said eagerly.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for a guy in uniform," Camille said.

Trip and Camille walked over to one another, wrapping their arms around each other. The rest of the group remained silent, giving them a moment to hold one another.

"I hate to break up the reunion, but there's a lot going on and we have to fill you in," Alex mentioned.

*

Katie opened her eyes slowly, only to find herself chained to a wall in one of the holding cells. She struggled to break the chains, and was amazed on how hard a time she was having.

"You won't be able to break them, they're enhanced with some type of alloy. I've been trying to get through mine for weeks now," a voice said.

Her head was pounding, and her vision was a bit blurry, so it was difficult for her to recognize the voice. "Who are you?" she called out, still unsure where the voice was coming from.

"I'm Sub-Commander KJ Sheldon," there was a pause. "I'm from Chryo Tech," she sighed.

"This is all your fault, isn't it? You're the reason those things are here,"

"I was only following orders. I had no idea what my superior officers were doing. When I found out, they turned the Harvengers on me but I managed to escape. I avoided them for days, but they caught up with me, and when your Admiral was infected with the virus, I was put into containment here in Time Force," she explained.

"What happened? How did the Harvengers get here?"

"As you know, Chryo Tech has been trying to perfect the slipstream technology, but were never able to get the proper alignment. We managed to open a stable vortex, but it was only one way. We could bring someone through, but we couldn't go through ourselves without being killed. On one of our preliminary tests, a Harvenger came through. We were able to contain it, and when my superiors found out what it was, he began to study ways to use their unique DNA to our advantage. Our belief was that if it were harnessed correctly, it would slow the aging process in humans. Essentially, we would live forever,"

"But you didn't count on the Harvenger infecting everyone," Katie sighed.

"Exactly. Within hours, our entire staff was infected. Only a few of us were able to get out alive, but even then we were tracked down and killed. The Harvengers planned to use our slipstream technology to travel to all worlds and all periods of time so they could infect every reality they traveled to, but soon realized that our vortex was only one way, so they…"

"They infected Admiral Logan here and planned to use our slipstream," she said.

"If they're allowed to get into your science lab and use the slipstream, every reality at every point in time will be infected," Sheldon said.

"You seem to be forgetting that if they travel to every point in time, they'll eventually create a time paradox that will destroy the entire space/time continuum. They'll destroy the entire universe," Katie brought up.

"So how do we stop them?"

"There's only one thing we _can_ do: we have to destroy the slipstream. There's nothing we can do to stop the Harvengers here, but we can stop them from traveling to other worlds," 

"When they drug you in here, one of them mentioned something about trying to infect you but it didn't work. Why didn't it?" Sheldon asked.

"I'm half Ethros demon, my immune system must have filtered it out,"

"If that's true, we should be able to come up with an anti toxin for the Harvenger's infection by using your DNA,"

"Even if we did manage to escape, we'd still need a lab of some kind to work on an anti toxin. Then, assuming we did come up with the anti toxin, how would we treat all of the Harvengers at once?"

She sighed. "You're right, we're doomed, and it's all my fault,"

*

"So let me see if I have this right: Harvengers are taken over the entire building, possibly the entire city, and we're the only ones that can stop them," Camille said.

"That's right,"

"If main power is off line and we're running on secondary systems, _how_ do we stop them exactly?" she asked.

"Carmen was convinced that you would be able to come up with a containment device for the Harvengers. You'd done it in the future," Tommy brought up.

"Without access to the science lab, I can't do anything,"

Trip walked over to them. "What about _our_ lab?" he asked.

"You have a lab?" Alex asked.

"Yes. It runs off the secondary power systems so it goes undetected, but it isn't as sophisticated as the science lab. If we could get to our quarters we should be able to come up with something," he said.

"But there's still a problem. If there are as many Harvengers as you say there is, they'll be able to reproduce much faster than I can make containment units," Carmen said.

"Guys," Lt. Emery called out, getting their attention. "I've done an internal scan of Time Force, I found two life signs. One is human, the other is half human," he said.

"That's Katie. Where are the life signs coming from?" Tommy asked.

"One of the holding cells on deck six,"

"Are there any Harvengers in the area?" he asked.

"According to this, the closest Harvenger is two decks away,"

Tommy reached for his Morpher. "Katie, do you read me?" 

For a moment, there was silence.

_'Tommy, is that you?'_ a voice responded.

"Sure is, are you okay?"

_'I'm trapped in a holding cell, but I'm fine. Did you get the sphere?'_ she asked.

"Yeah, and we're outside the building. We're going to teleport you out of there," he said.

'Make that two for teleportation,' 

"Two? Who's the other one?" he asked.

_'Someone that I think can help us,'_ she said.

"You got it Katie. Stand by," he said.

"I've got a lock on them," Adam said, sitting at the controls.

"Do it,"

Within seconds, Katie and Sub Commander Sheldon materialized in front of them. 

"I know you, you're from Chryo Tech," Alex said, reaching for his phaser and aiming it at her. 

Katie grabbed the phaser, forcing him to put it down. "KJ is okay with me, and we may have a plan to stop the Harvengers," Katie told them.


	11. Chapter Eleven

"When they drug you in here, one of them mentioned something about trying to infect you but it didn't work. Why didn't it?" Sheldon asked.

"I'm half Ethros demon, my immune system must have filtered it out,"

"If that's true, we should be able to come up with an anti toxin for the Harvenger's infection by using your DNA,"

"Even if we did manage to escape, we'd still need a lab of some kind to work on an anti toxin. Then, assuming we did come up with the anti toxin, how would we treat all of the Harvengers at once?"

She sighed. "You're right, we're doomed, and it's all my fault,"

"This isn't the time to be blaming one another, or ourselves. First thing we should be is find a way out of here," Katie told her.

"I told you, this chains are specially reinforced with steel. No human alive can break them," she reminded her.

"And _I_ told _you_, I'm not _exactly_ human," Katie wrapped the chains around her wrists, getting a firm grip on them, then snatched them forward. It took a few times, but she managed to snatch one of the out the wall. From there, she put her feet up against the wall and pulled again, this time breaking the second chain. "Now to get out of this holding cell,"

"But how, it's protected by a force field,"

"Only the exit points, the walls are another story," she said, picking up a bench sitting inside the cell. She cocked back with it, ramming it up against the wall. The first few shots were enough to dent the cell, but the last one made it through. Katie pulled the bench back, then opened up the hole as much as she could, making her way into KJ's cell.

KJ was chained to a wall as well, and from the looks of it, had been there for weeks. Her clothes were a mess, and her honey blonde hair was covering most of her face.

"You did it," she said eagerly.

"Hold still," Katie told her, grabbing hold of the chains and snatching them out the wall. "We'll be out of here in a second,"

"Katie, do you read me?" 

"What was that?" KJ asked.

"Its my friends. They're looking for me," she said, reaching for her Morpher." Tommy, is that you?" she responded.

"Sure is, are you okay?" 

"I'm trapped in a holding cell, but I'm fine. Did you get the sphere?"

_'Yeah, and we're outside the building. We're going to teleport you out of there,'_ he said.

"Make that two for teleportation," 'Two? Who's the other one?' 

"Someone that I think can help us," she said.

'You got it Katie. Stand by,' 

"You're a Power Ranger?" KJ asked in amazement.

She nodded. "So much for the secret identity aspect of it, huh?"

"I always thought the yellow ranger was a guy,"

She paused. "A guy?"

"Yeah, the girl rangers usually have the little skirt things on their ranger uniforms. The yellow ranger uniform doesn't have one, so I always thought it was a guy," she said.

"Common misconception,"

"Oh, sorry,"

'I've got a lock on them,' another voice said. 

"Do it," Katie said.

KJ watched on as a sort of light seemed to surround them. Within moments, the two of them disappeared, and then reappeared inside the Time Shadow Megazord.

"I know you, you're from Chryo Tech," Alex said, reaching for his phaser and aiming it at KJ. 

Katie grabbed the phaser, forcing him to put it down. "KJ is okay with me, and we may have a plan to stop the Harvengers," Katie told them.

"What's the plan? Come up with _another_ unstoppable race of beings to come in fight the Harvengers for us? Chryo Tech has done enough damage as it is," Tommy snapped.

KJ took a step forward. "We've been able to determine that Katie is immune to the Harvenger virus. If we can get to a laboratory of some kind, I believe that we can formulate some kind of anti toxin to cure all the infected humans," she explained.

"And why should we trust you?"

"Because I'm the best chance you have to stop them. Period," she snapped.

It was Alex who took a step forward, standing in-between Tommy and KJ, and then turned to Camille. "Do you think you can get to your lab without being detected?" he asked her.

"We could go through the service crawlways, then go up the matinense ladders to deck 14. From there, it would be a piece of cake," she said.

"Good. You and Trip take Katie and KJ with you to watch your backs just in case. Contact me when you've got something," Alex ordered.

"We're on it chief," Trip said as the four of them headed for the service crawlways.

"Our next priority should be to find Jen and Nadira. They have to be out there somewhere," Tommy brought up.

"Agreed. Adam, have you been able to track down anything?"

"No. Either they're somewhere where we _can't_ scan for them, or…" he paused. "…they've been changed," he sighed.

"Could they be cloaked?"

"If they are, we won't be able to track them,"

"Try scanning for Jen's Morpher. We should be able to get a lock on it and…" he was cut short.

"Jen doesn't have a Morpher," Alex sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"When Admiral Logan gave the order to have your shuttle shot out of orbit, she quit. She took her Morpher off," he told them.

"Great. Just great," Tommy sighed.

"What I _can_ do is scan for anything that may be cloaked. If something _is_ cloaked, it stands to reason that Jen will be there," Adam said.

"Do it,"

"It's going to take a while, I still have to determine the right frequency of the cloak, then scan the entire building for that signature. I'm not exactly a rocket scientist, so you'll have to give me a minute," he said.

"Just do your best,"

*

"Remind me to have a talk with whoever designed these damn crawlways. This is ridiculous," Camille complained as the four of them crawled as quietly as they could. Behind her was Katie, followed by KJ and Trip.

"How close are we to your lab?"

"We're still on deck 1. This crawlway will only take us to the matience ladder that will lead to deck 14. This is going to take some time," she said.

"No offense, but I don't want to crawl through these dirty spaces staring at your ass for another 13 decks," Katie said.

"I'll be happy to trade spots with you," Trip said.

"Shut up!" the two of them snapped in unison.

"Do all of you usually get along like this?" KJ inquired.

"No, sometimes we argue," Katie said sarcastically.

"Okay, here we are," she quietly pulled a panel off the bottom of the crawlway, then slowly stuck her head out. "This is our stop," she said, rolling into a flip and falling to the floor, landing on her feet. She stood aside as Katie jumped as well, followed by KJ. Trip was the last to come out, but fell out the hole and landed on his back.

"That's the last time I crawl around in the ceiling you with," he groaned.

Katie quickly helped him up, and the three of them followed Camille down the hall and around the corner. "It looks like none of the Harvengers are on this deck," she said.

"They're probably working on a way to get the force fields down,"

She pointed to the end of the hall. "There it is, the ladder we need to use," she said, heading for the ladder.

"Great, another 14 decks of checking out your ass," Katie said.

"So you admit it, you were checking out my ass," she giggled.

"Ya know, I could always trade spots with you and…" again, he was cut short.

"Shut up," they said in unison.

"I'm afraid I do not understand. If all of you are a team, how do you function as a unit if you constantly make jokes and belittle each other?" KJ asked them.

"Its just the way we talk to one another, it doesn't mean anything. We work better together when everyone is relaxed and comfortable with one another," Trip said.

"That is… unusual. In Chryo Tech, there is a chain of command. There are those who lead, and those who follow. There is no level of comfort, only the chain of command," she brought up as they all started up the ladder.

"We're all learned that you can't just follow orders blindly. Sometimes the chain of command doesn't work, and you have to go with your instincts," he said.

"Instincts? I do not understand,"

"Hang around long enough, you'll get it," he told her.

*

"I think I've got something," Adam said, double-checking the readings on the control panel.

Tommy rushed over to him, staring over his shoulder. "Did you find them?" he asked.

"I found a cloaked ship in the shuttle bay, but I can't scan the interior so I don't know if there are any life signs inside," he said.

"Can you open a channel?"

"No,"

Alex walked over to them. "Tommy, which shuttle did you and Adam take on Omara?" he asked them.

"Shuttle seven, why?"

"Adam, can you tell me which shuttles are in the shuttle bay and accounted for?" he asked.

Adam turned back to the controls. "According to this, only two shuttles are missing. Shuttle seven, which is one we used, and shuttle thirteen. I checked the departure dates, and our shuttle was the only one to leave in the past 36 hours," he said.

"So that means shuttle thirteen is there _and_ cloaked," Tommy said.

"Now that we know which shuttle it is, you should be able to open a channel to the shuttle by using the interface subroutines," he said.

"I'm on it," he paused. "I've got something. Channel open," Adam said.

"Jennifer. This is Alex, come in," he said.

For a moment, there was silence.

'Alexander. Boy am I glad to hear from you. Whats going on out there?' 

"We've come up with a way to stop the Harvengers, but we're going to need all the man power we can get," he said.

_'I've lost track of Nadira, and Lucas was killed,'_ she told him.

"Oh God," Adam sighed.

'I'm here with Ensign Claw,' 

"You mean Leo Claw?" he asked.

'Yeah,' 

"We're going to teleport the two of you here to the Time Shadow, we'll fill you in when you get here," he told her.

'Understood,' 

"Stand by,"

"I've got a lock on them. It's the two of them, and I'm also detected _another_ body," he paused. "Its Lucas," Adam said.

"Teleport him too, we'll use the sphere to bring him back," he said.

"Beginning teleportation sequence… now," he said.

Within seconds, Jen, Ensign Claw and Lucas materiazlied in the zord. The light faded, and Ensign Claw glanced around. "Whoa, this is fuckin' awesome," he said.

"Jen," Tommy sighed.

Jen turned around. "Oh my God, Tommy," she rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I thought I would never see you again," she cried.

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," he told her.

"What about Trip? And Camille?"

"They're fine. They're with Katie working on a way to stop the Harvengers," he said.

"I'm going to go use the sphere to revive Lucas. Adam, you wanna give me a hand?" Alex asked him, realizing that Tommy and Jen wanted a few minutes alone.

"Yeah, sure. Come on Ensign,"

"Naw, I'm good here," Leo insisted.

"That's an order ensign, lets go," Adam snapped as the three of them picked Lucas up, pulling him into the cargo hold.

"So, I heard you quit Time Force," Tommy brought up.

"Admiral Logan gave the order to have you killed, I didn't want anything else to do with Time Force. I thought it was the right thing to do," she sighed. "Hey, where is Carmen?"

"After we saved Camille and Trip, the time line shifted and she disappeared," he sighed.

"Was she really our…"

"Yes, she was. Without her, we wouldn't have been able to save the others. We owe her our lives," Tommy said.

"Speaking of our lives, I have something to tell you," she said.

He shook his head. "No, wait until this is over. Once we get through this, then tell me what you have to say," he said.

"But we might not get the chance to…"

"We _will_ get the chance, now lets get to work," he said.

She smiled.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Lt. James Emery, Leo Claw, Carmen Oliver, KJ Sheldon  and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. 

**A/N: **This is the final chapter in the Future Shock II series. After this, I'll be taking some much needed time off, but when I come back, I'll begin work on Parallels II. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as I've enjoyed writing.

Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.

~~~

Camille pulled the metal panel off the side of the service crawlway, quietly peeking around the corner. Once she realized the entire deck was deserted, she climbed out of the crawlway, dusting herself off.

"It's clear, guys," she said. Next to climb out of the crawlway was Katie, followed by Trip. Finally, KJ climbed out, and Camille put the metal panel back against the way. "This way, guys," she whispered.

The three of them followed her down the hallway, then around the corner. Camille stopped at a door, entering an access code in the panel next to the wall.

… but nothing happened.

"Damn it. Main power is offline and I can't use my access code to get in," she said.

"Here, let me try _my_ code," Katie said, walking over to the door, putting her hands into the small slots dividing the doors and pulling them open. "See, my code always works."

Camille and Trip headed in, and once KJ was inside, Katie followed them in, closing the doors behind them.

"Computer, bring all computer systems on line. Authorization Summers beta 64," Camille said.

_'All systems on line,'_ the computer answered.

"We have to make this quick. Secondary power isn't enough to sustain all the systems for very long," Trip mentioned.

"Computer, DNA sampler on line," she said.

_'DNA sampler is on line,'_ the computer announced.

"You have a DNA sampler?" Katie asked.

"I dabbled in a lot of genetic experiments during my first stint in Time Force, it was one of the reasons I was fired in the first place. One of the terms of my being re-hired was discontinuing a lot of my experiments," Camille explained. "Katie, I'll need a blood sample."

Without question, Katie rolled up her sleeve, allowing Camille to use a needle to take a sample of blood. When she was finished, Camille put a few drops of blood on a small glass sheet, and then placed it under a microscope.

"I do not understand. Why would you willingly give a sample of your blood to someone who has openly disregarded Time Force's regulations and experimented with DNA?" KJ asked her.

"Because Camille is my friend, I trust her."

"But why?"

"She's saved my life more times than I care to count. We're a team here, we're a family," she told her.

"There is no room for emotional attachments in Chryo Tech, there is only a…" she was cut short.

"I know, a chain of command. That chain of command isn't always enough. We follow orders not because we _have _to, but because we respect our commanding officers. Everyone I work with has earned my respect, and I would give my life for any of them." 

"Hey, I _did_ give my life," Trip brought up.

"I do not understand," KJ admitted.

"I can see why it might be hard for someone like you, you've been in a completely different type of command structure." 

"But this method is incorrect."

"If it's so incorrect, why did you follow your orders so blindly? You _knew_ what you were trying to do with the Harvengers were wrong, so why didn't you stop? Why did you take orders that you knew would have that kind of consequence?" Katie asked her.

"Orders aren't to be questioned, simply carried out. I was doing what was required of me," she said.

"Sometimes that isn't enough. I can't tell you how many times we've staged mutinies around here."

"Twice," Trip said.

"Thank you, Trip. The point is, our methods may not be by the book, but they work. I'm not saying everyone in Time Force thinks the way we do, but our methods have worked with our unit for years now," Katie explained.

"It will take time for me to understand fully."

"I'm sure it will."

"Guys, I think I have something here," Camille said, getting everyone's attention. The rest of them hurried over to her. "The rate of regeneration in Katie's blood is nothing short of incredible. The immune system alone is unlike anything I've ever seen before, and there are no traces of the Harvenger DNA in her blood at all," she said.

"How can we use that?"

"Even if we come up with an anti-toxin, how would we be able to get it to everyone at once?" Katie asked her.

"When main power goes offline, there are very few systems that remain untouched, but one of them is environmental controls. If we can make the anti-toxin in a gaseous form and filter it through the environmental controls, it would cure everyone within minutes," she said.

"But based on this readout, it would be deadly to anyone who hasn't been infected," Trip brought up.

"Deadly?" KJ inquired.

"It would melt the human brain," Camille said bluntly.

"Is there any way to find out how many humans are in the building and not affected, then teleport them to safety?" Katie asked.

"That would require every bit of power we have, and we need the power in reserves to filter the anti-toxin through the environmental controls," she said.

"Wait a sec." Trip hurried over to a second set of controls. "We could construct a chamber of some kind, something to shield us from the anti-toxins. It wouldn't take much to come up with a pod of some type to protect us, maybe a dozen of them," he said.

Camille nodded. "Yes, that would do it."

Katie looked at KJ, then back at Trip and Camille. "I think it would be a much better idea to make a chamber, but make it big enough to hold more than a dozen people, then try to lure the Harvengers inside," she said.

"Why? It would take longer to…" He was cut short.

"_I_ think it's a good idea. Reroute the environmental controls to fill the chamber with the anti-toxin. Since we know the Harvengers want to get to the slipstream, we can set it up in the lab. Once we do, we'll have Lucas bring the main systems back online and drop the force fields around the building," she said.

"But why?"

"That way all the Harvengers in the city will come in, and all of them will go after the slipstream. Once they get in, we lure them into the chamber and give them the anti-toxin," Katie said.

"But we would cover much more…"

"No, Trip, she's right. That's a good idea," Camille paused, noticing the strange look on Katie's face. "Actually, it's a perfect idea. We can make the chamber, and it'll only take a few minutes to reroute the controls," she said.

"Alright, if you guys say so."

"Can we use the site to site teleportation systems in our morphers to get to the lab?" Katie asked.

"Yes, but even with secondary power, the Harvengers may be able to track you, and if they've already changed Time Force personnel, they may be waiting for us to try," he said.

"Its okay if they track us. In fact, we _want_ them to know where we are. KJ, can you get back to Jen and the others? Do you remember the way we came?"

"Yes."

"Go let them know what we're doing. Tell them to have Lucas meet us in the science lab so he can bring all the systems back on line. Trip, you need to stay here and finish the anti-toxin, then filter it directly into the environmental controls. Katie and I are going to the lab to start work on the chamber," she explained.

"You are giving me an assignment?" KJ asked.

"Yes."

"But I work for Chryo Tech, how do you know you can trust me?" she inquired.

"I don't think you want the entire human race destroyed any more than the rest of us. Like it or not, we're in this together, and we have to work together to get out of it. Are you with us?" Camille replied.

KJ nodded. "Yes, but I hope I don't have to stare at your ass," she said eagerly.

*

Nadira and Admiral Logan stood in the counsel's chambers, staring down at an entire legion of Harvengers. 

"Our time is nearly at hand, children. We will use the humans' technology to travel not only to different worlds, but different time periods. Soon, our race will be the superior race not only in this universe, but other universes as well. Our day is at hand!" Logan told them.

The group of Harvengers cheered in support of their leader as Nadira took a step forward. "As we speak, the rangers are devising a plan to stop us, but little do they know their plan will be their own undoing. Our informant has already given us the details of the ranger's plan, and very soon, we will use it against them and eliminate them. With the rangers destroyed, nothing will stand in the way of our complete domination," she proclaimed.

*

He opened his eyes slowly, but disorientation got the best of him. His vision was a bit blurry, and his head was pounding. "What the…" he was cut short.

"Conserve your strength, Lucas, death really takes it out of you," a voice said.

He couldn't see, but he recognized the voice. "Alex?"

"Yeah, it's me. Just take it easy."

Lucas sat up. "The Harvengers, did they get into the computers? I tried to…"

"No, you locked them out just in time. Main power is still off line."

"Good," he sighed with relief. "Are the others okay? Where is Nadira?" he asked.

"The others are fine, but Nadira was… changed."

"Oh God..."

"Sir, it's that girl from Chryo Tech, she's back," Adam announced from the control room of the zord.

"Send her to me," he said.

A few moments later, KJ carefully walked into the cargo hold. "Lt. Summers and the others are ready to implement their plan. They have devised an anti-toxin to the Harvenger virus, but they need Lucas to bring the main systems back online so they can deactivate the force fields," she told him.

"Why would we want to drop the force fields?"

"Their plan is to lure all the Harvengers into a chamber that will reverse the virus, but it can only be administered in a gas form so that it can reach the Harvengers through the environmental control systems," she said.

"Brilliant," Alex admitted.

"I should get to the lab then," Lucas said, sitting up.

"I'll have Ensign Claw go with you just in case. Adam and I will get down there and try to lure the Harvengers towards the lab when you give us the signal," he said.

"Sounds good. Let's do it,"

~~

Both Lucas and Ensign Claw materialized in the science lab, where Camille and Katie were constructing the chamber. The chamber itself was at least eight feet tall, but from the looks of it, was only able to hold a few people.

Katie turned around, getting a look at Lucas. "Lucas, you're alive," she squealed, rushing over to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"It's good to see you too," he sighed.

"Quite an impressive chamber you've got there, but have you compensated for the strain on the plating when the environmental systems are rerouted through it? If not, the entire chamber could collapse," Ensign Claw pointed out, walking over to the chamber.

"I wouldn't worry about that, I've got…" Camille paused. "Oh my God, Leo?" she inquired.

"Cam?" he replied.

Camille walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. Both Lucas and Katie watched on in confusion as Leo and Camille held one another for a moment, finally backing away.

"You look good," she said.

"You too."

"You wouldn't even know I just came back from the dead, huh?"

"You were dead?"

"Yeah, it's a long story," she said.

"You'll have to tell me all about it over dinner sometime."

"Sounds great!"

Finally, Lucas cleared his throat, getting their attention. "How about some attention for the dead guy who just came back," he said.

"Of course Lucas, I'm sorry," Camille walked over to him, kissing him warmly on the cheek. "I'm glad you're okay."

"You and Leo know each other?" Katie inquired.

"Oh yeah, me and Cam go way back. We worked on a lot of projects together in the academy, but she got fired and I had to carry on without her. Then when she did get rehired, she didn't come back to our department, she came here to be a ranger," he said.

"It's not like that, I've been busy," she said.

"Too busy to even let me know you were okay?"

"I'm fine, really," she paused. "Well, except for whole dying thing. But other than that, I'm good," she insisted.

"Glad to hear it."

"Is the chamber complete?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, but we can't bring it online until main power is restored," she mentioned.

"That's where I come in," he paused. "Computer, unlock all command functions and bring main power back on line. Authorization Kendal 65," he said.

_'Authorization accepted. Main power restored,' _the computer answered.

"That's my cue," Camille said, activating the chamber.

Katie reached for her Morpher. "Katie to Tommy, we're ready in the lab. You guys ready to do this?" she asked.

'As ready as we'll ever be. Stand by.' 

~~

Tommy turned to Jen. "Are you sure you're up to this? Once those force fields come down, every Harvenger in the city is going to come flooding in here," he mentioned.

"I know the risks, and I'm ready," she assured him.

"Here, you may need this," he said, handing her a Morpher. 

She put the Morpher on her wrist, but it was obvious that it wasn't the one she'd given up. "What is this?"

"It was Carmen's Morpher, it's similar to Adam's, it even has a phased cloak installed. I'm sure she'd want you to have it. Since she was your daughter, it's safe to assume your DNA will active it," he said.

"Thank you."

Tommy turned to Adam. "You ready?" he inquired.

"Oh yeah," Adam said eagerly.

"You don't even have to ask me," Alex said, walking over to him.

Tommy reached for his Morpher. "Tommy to Katie, we're ready over here. Do it."

~~

"Acknowledged, Tommy. Good luck." Katie turned to Lucas, nodding. "It's time."

"Computer, drop all force fields surrounding the building," he said.

_'Warning, unknown species detected outside the building,'_ the computer warned.

"Drop the force fields," he repeated.

_'Force fields deactivated,'_ the computer told him.

~~

The four of them stood in the main lobby of Time Force headquarters, watching as the force fields around the building disappeared, and dozens of Harvengers began to storm the building. "Alright guys, lets do it," Alex said.

_"TIME FOR, TIME FORCE," _Tommy called out, transforming into the red ranger.

_"BLACK RANGER CHRONO ARMOR,"_ Adam called out as his Time Force uniform was replaced by his ranger armor.

_"PINK RANGER CHRONO ARMOR," _Jen called out, and within seconds, was transformed into the pink ranger.

Alex let the charge, rushing in with a double spin kick, taking down two of the Harvengers. A third one grabbed him from behind, but he ducked down, allowing Tommy to give the Harvenger a tornado kick. As it fell to the ground, more Harvengers ran after Tommy, grabbing him. He managed to break free, giving all of them a sweep, knocking them over.

Adam and Jen stood back to back, preventing the Harvengers from making it to the elevators. Finally, the two of them were overwhelmed, and the Harvengers made it past them.

"Stop!" a voice yelled. At that moment, every Harvenger stopped in their tracks, turning their attention to Admiral Logan as he stepped off the elevator along with Nadira. "You've done well rangers, but your efforts to stop our race from conquering this universe and every other have failed. Admit defeat now, and I promise you merciful deaths," he announced.

"We'll never give up," Tommy screamed, rushing towards the Admiral, but a group of Harvengers grabbed him, holding him in place.

"Something tells me you'll be willing to reconsider," he said as another elevator door opened. Another group of Harvengers stepped out, holding Lt. Emery's arms behind his back.

"Tommy, don't do it," he screamed.

"Let him go!" Jen screamed.

"You were always so full of spunk, Jennifer, that's why I liked you so much," he sighed. "You will surrender or Lt. Emery will suffer a fate worse than death. Quite frankly, all of you will… eventually," he told them.

"We won't negotiate with you, Logan. Instead, I have a deal for you," Tommy said.

"Oh really, this should be interesting."

"Let us go and leave our reality, and you and your Harvengers will be allowed to live," he snarled.

"I doubt you're in a position to make such a threat," he said.

"You sure about that?"

"Fairly sure."

"Right now I have Katie and the others strapping a mesotronic bomb not only to the slipstream itself, but all over the building. If you and your Harvengers don't clear out in the next five minutes, the entire building will go up and everyone inside will be destroyed," he said.

Logan laughed at him. "You expect me to believe you'd sacrifice everyone in this building just to stop me? Come now, Thomas, I know you better than that. Besides, I already know what your _real_ plan is," he said.

"You think so?"

"I know about the chamber, I know that you plan on tricking us inside so you can _cure_ us. The truth is, Thomas, this isn't an illness, it _is_ the cure. Think of it; no more disease, no pain, no death. The Harvengers have achieved immortality. Did you really think you could trick us into falling into your pathetic little trap?" he snapped.

"But how did you…"

"You can thank Sub-Commander Sheldon for telling me everything I needed to know," he said.

"I knew we couldn't trust that bitch," Alex snapped.

"Don't be so judgmental, Alexander, it wasn't her fault. Model A6 is equipped with surveillance technology, she had no idea she was leaking information to me."

"Model A6? You mean she's a…"

"Android. Yes, quite a lifelike one at that. She will be all that's left to represent the human race after I've destroyed you all."

"You can't, we won't…" she was cut short as Logan walked over to Jen, snatching the Morpher off her wrist, forcing her to power down.

"Put a sock in it, Jen, you never did know when to shut up," he groaned, snatching Adam's Morpher off as well.

Next, Nadira walked over to Tommy, snatching the Morpher off his wrist, watching him fall to the ground as he powered down.

"Pathetic," she sighed.

"You shouldn't be upset, you're all going to bear witness to the end of the human race and the beginning of a new race, a superior race; The Harvengers," Logan proclaimed.

~~

The doors to the science lab opened, allowing Logan and Nadira to lead the Harvengers inside.

Katie, Trip and Camille stood in-between the Harvengers and the slipstream. "_TIME FOR, TIME…" _they stopped when The Harvengers dragged Tommy, Jen, Adam and Alex's bodies into the lab, throwing them to the floor.

"What were you saying?" Nadira asked.

"What happened?"

"It was an excellent effort, but it's over," Logan said, walking over to the chamber, getting a good look at it. "This is very impressive, nice design too. How did you expect to fit every Harvenger inside this little thing? It's a shame none of you thought ahead," he said.

"We won't let you get away with this, Logan!" Leo yelled, taking a step forward.

Logan grabbed him by the throat, lifted him up and snapped his neck, then laughed as Leo's body hit the ground. "I never liked that kid, he was annoying," he sighed.

"You're a monster," Camille snapped.

"I know what you're thinking, you'll just use the sphere of Omara to bring your friend back, but I assure you, that won't be an option," he told them. At that moment, the Harvengers parted allowing KJ to walk into the lab with the sphere in hand. "This is the end, rangers."

"I can't believe you would turn on us, KJ, I thought we were friends," Katie said.

"I told you, there is no room for emotional attachments. There is only the chain of command," she told her.

"KJ, destroy the sphere," Logan said.

KJ stared at the sphere, at Logan, then at Katie, who had an emotionless expression on her face. "I cannot," she said.

"Model A6, I gave you a direct order. I expect you to carry it out," he said.

"I cannot. I will not participate in the destruction of one species for another. It is… wrong," she said.

"An android with a conscience." He grabbed her head, snatching it off its shoulders, watching as her body fell to the floor. "What a shame," he sighed. As sparks shot out of the android's body, Logan stomped down on the sphere, destroying it.

"Put all the humans inside the chamber," Nadira ordered.

The Harvengers opened the door of the chamber, throwing the humans inside. Logan shoved Jen and the others inside, shutting the door and locking it from the outside. Logan walked over to the control panel, ready to activate the chamber.

"Any famous last words, rangers?" he asked.

It was Katie who walked over to the door of the chamber, staring at Logan with a look of contempt in her eyes as she held up a small detonator. "Yeah, your time is up," she snapped, pushing the button.

Just then, force fields went up over the entrances and exits to the lab, and a greenish smoke began to fill the room.

"What have you done?" he groaned.

"I thought ahead," Katie smiled.

The smoke got thicker, eventually making it almost impossible to see through. Logan fell to his knees as he coughed, inching his way towards the chamber. He tried to punch a hole through it, but there was a force field in place.

"You tricked me," he whispered, finally falling to the floor.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Katie waited as long as she could, then pushed the button again, and the smoke began to dissipate. When it was clear, the Harvengers were motionless on the floor. 

"Did it work?" Camille asked.

Katie nodded. "Yep. It's over," she sighed.

*

Tommy opened his eyes slowly, only to find himself in the infirmary. He tried to sit up, but his head began to pound and forced him to lie back down. He tried to recall the incidents that led up to that moment, but was drawing a complete blank.

"You're awake," a voice said.

"Katie?" he mumbled. "What happened?"

"I suspected that KJ was a spy, so I gave her false information just in case she was leaking information to Logan and the Harvengers. The fact that she was an android threw me for a loop though," she admitted.

"How did you know?"

"There were little things, but the one that convinced me was when she called me the yellow ranger. I was wearing my Time Force uniform, and even though she could have spotted my morpher and figured it out, there was no way that someone from Chryo Tech could have known I was the yellow ranger," she explained.

"The Harvengers, are they…"

"They're gone, all of them. I let them think that the chamber would have the cure inside, but it was actually to shield _us_ from the anti-toxin. When they locked us in, we filtered the anti-toxin though the entire building. I've got Trip, Lt. Emery and Adam patrolling the streets now with anti-toxin just to make sure we got them all," she said.

"You're brilliant, Katie," he sighed.

"I know."

Just then, Jen walked over to Tommy, staring down at him. "How're ya feeling?" she asked.

"Dr. Katie has been taking good care of me. I'll be okay," he said.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," Katie said with a smile, walking away.

"For a minute there I didn't think you were going to wake up," she sighed.

"You know me, I like to sleep in late."

"Tommy, there's something I want to tell you," Jen said.

"No wait, there's something I want to tell you." It took every ounce of his strength, but he sat up, leaning up against the wall. "We've both had a rocky past, and our past relationships stopped us from telling one another how we felt for a long time. If I didn't learn anything else from this experience, I learned that the future isn't promised to us, so we should enjoy each day as if it was our last. I love you, Jennifer, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" he asked.

Jen smiled as tears rolled down her face. "Will you still love me when I get fat?" she sighed.

"Of course."

She grabbed his hand, putting it on her stomach. "Good, because I'm going to blow up like a balloon over the next seven months," she cried.

"Are you…"

She nodded. "I am. I wanted to tell you, but I thought…" he cut her short as he leaned in, kissing her gently.

"You didn't answer my question. Will you marry me?" he repeated.

"Yes," she cried, wrapping her arms around him.

~~

"I always knew those two would get together. I had a feeling about them," Camille said as she and Alex stood in the doorway of the infirmary, simply watching as Tommy and Jen held one another.

"As much as I hate to admit it, so did I. Part of me always thought that once Jen came back from the 21st century, we'd get back together, but some things just aren't meant to be," he sighed.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Alex, you never know what the future has in store for you," she told him.


End file.
